The Bank of Japan (BOJ) headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged.<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Asia-Pacific markets dipped on Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a> touch a new closing low for the year.<\/p>\n The Federal Reserve held its key policy rate steady at 3.5% to 3.75%, with Chair Jerome Powell watering down rate-cut expectations, saying that inflation was not coming down as much as \u2018hoped.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n The producer price index \u2014 which tracks the change in wholesale prices \u2014 rose 0.7% in February, well above the 0.3% that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated.<\/p>\n Despite that, the U.S. central bank’s “dot plot”<\/a> still projects a cut in 2026 and another in 2027, even though the timing is unclear. <\/p>\n The Iran war continues to fuel energy worries. International benchmark\u00a0Brent crude futures<\/a>\u00a0rose 3.83% to settle at $107.38 per barrel. <\/p>\n U.S. oil prices were trading at elevated levels as well, with\u00a0West Texas Intermediate futures<\/a>\u00a0closing marginally higher at $96.32 per barrel.<\/p>\n Investors in Asia will look toward the Bank of Japan decision, with the bank expected to hold rates at 0.75%.<\/p>\n South Korea’s Kospi<\/a> lost 2.54%, after being the top gainer in the region on Wednesday, while the small-cap Kosdaq saw a smaller loss of 1.69%.<\/p>\n Chip heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix saw losses of over 3%. <\/p>\n The South Korean won briefly broke past the 1,500 mark against the dollar earlier in the session, prompting finance minister Koo Yun-cheol to say on Wednesday that authorities<\/a> have a “heightened sense of vigilance toward the foreign exchange market,” according to South Korean media.<\/p>\n Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> was down 2.58%, leading losses in Asia, while the broad-based Topix was 2.03% lower. <\/p>\n Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> was down 1.56%.<\/p>\n Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.62%, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 index was 0.89% down. <\/p>\n Overnight in the U.S., the 30-stock Dow lost 1.63%, ending at 46,225.15, reaching a new low this year. The index also closed below its 200-day moving average. <\/p>\n The\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0fell 1.36%, while the\u00a0Nasdaq Composite<\/a>\u00a0dropped 1.46%.<\/p>\n \u2014CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Pia Singh and Jeff Cox contributed to this report. <\/p>\n