Asian markets fell on Friday, following Wall Street’s sell-off in response to stronger-than-expected U.S. employment data, paving the way for additional rate increases by the Federal Reserve.
As of 9.25 A.M. Bangkok time, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.22%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.36%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.60%, leading losses in the region.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.54% and the Kospi in South Korea slid 1.43%.
Overnight, investors in the United States saw a loss of 366.38 points (or 1.07%) on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 index fell by 0.79%, while the Nasdaq composite index declined by 0.82%. The Dow and S&P 500 both had their worst day since May.
According to a survey released by payroll company ADP on Thursday, businesses added far more employment than predicted. The private sector added 497,000 jobs in the month, which is significantly higher than the 220,000 jobs that were predicted by the Dow Jones consensus. The jump was the largest seen since July 2022.
The data also followed the release, on Wednesday, of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting, which revealed that the majority of officials support future rate hikes.
