The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 1.69%, while the Topix fell 1.83%. Shares of Fast Retailing fell 2.84%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 0.55% and the Hang Seng Technology Index rose 1.12%. Shares of mainland China were mixed. The Shanghai composite rose 0.17%, while the Shenzhen component slipped 0.18%. Australia’s S & P / ASX 200 fell 0.33%. In Korea, Kospi fell 0.98% while Kosdaq fell 1.22%. Samsung Electronics reported that its operating profit for the first quarter of 2022 probably increased by 50% compared to a year ago. The memory chip and smartphone maker made an estimated profit of 14.1 trillion won ($ 11.6 billion), according to its earnings guidance. The company’s share fell 0.44%. Undoubtedly, the aggressive second balance sheet probably stole the show to give a much bigger hawkish jolt to the markets. Vishnu Varathan Head of Finance and Strategy, Mizuho Bank The Hong Kong-based Nasdaq and JD.com have announced that Xu Lei will succeed founder Richard Liu as CEO of the company with immediate effect. Liu will remain chairman of the board, while Xu will be executive director. Last year, Liu retired from day-to-day operations and Xu was appointed president of JD. Shares of the company listed in Hong Kong fell 0.43% on Thursday. MSCI’s broadest Asia-Pacific stock index outside Japan fell 0.33%. In the news of the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India will continue its monetary policy meeting on Thursday. Overnight in the US, major stock indices fell for a second day as investors reacted to the Fed’s instructions to tighten monetary policy. Fed records show that officials are trying to shrink the balance sheet by $ 95 billion a month. Interest rates are also expected to rise faster. “Undoubtedly, the aggressive outflow of the balance sheet probably stole the show to give a much bigger shock to the markets,” Vishnu Varathan, Mizuho Bank’s chief financial officer and strategist, wrote in a note on Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 144.67 points, or 0.42%, to 34,496.51. The S&P 500 fell 0.97% to 4,481.15 points and the Nasdaq Composite fell another 2.22% to 13,888.82 points after falling about 2.3% on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year bond rose to a three-year high of more than 2.65% on Wednesday and was last at 2.5695%. On the financial front, data on weekly US unemployment claims are due to be released on Thursday morning in the US

Oil rose more than 1%

Both crude oil benchmarks rose more than 1% on Thursday morning in Asia. US crude futures were up 1.68% at $ 97.85 a barrel, while Brent crude was up 1.84% at $ 102.93 a barrel. The US dollar index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of its peers, last traded at 99,528. The Japanese yen traded at 123.64 per dollar, while the Australian dollar was at 0.7496 dollars, slightly weaker than yesterday levels.