Pedestrians wearing protective masks during the coronaviruses disease COVID 19 outbreak walk past an electronic board displaying Japan's Nikkei index outside a brokerage in Tokyo.
With no final results available from the U.S. mid-term elections, investors turned to the upcoming inflation data later in the day, which is likely to show a decline in the monthly and yearly core numbers for October to 0.5% and 6.5%, according to a Reuters poll.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.6% in early trade, dragged down by the declines in China's bluechips and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index.
The southern metropolis of Guangzhou reported thousands of cases of COVID surge, which is a sign that China is grappling with a COVID surge. Apple Inc supplier Foxconn plans to update its fourth-quarter outlook on Thursday after strict COVID curbs were put in place at its major plant in China despite the lifting of a lockdown.
While inflation globally has peaked, cooling is not sufficiently large or broad-based to bring rate hiking cycles to a convincing conclusion, according to analysts at J.P. Morgan.
Some central banks in both developed and emerging markets have become dovish as they worried about monetary tightening pushing down economic growth, according to analysts.
The chances of a half point increase next month is tilted in favor of a half-point increase, as investors believe the U.S. federal funds rate will peak around 5.1% by June.
Shares fell as Republican gains appeared to be more modest than some had expected, despite the fact that shares fell overnight on Wall Street. The Republicans were still in favor of winning control of the House of Representatives, but key races were too close to call.
After tumbling for two straight sessions to its lowest level since late 2020, bitcoins clawed back some ground in early trade on Thursday.
The world's biggest exchange said late on Wednesday that it had decided not to acquire smaller rival FTX, which has struggled with a severe liquidity crunch and faced bankruptcy without more capital.
There is a growing correlation between bitcoin and risk assets. Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said that the FTX news has an outsized effect on asset prices.
Given how widely the coins are held, it could mean more forced liquidation of other assets to cover margin calls, as long position investors were massively wrong-footed. The U.S. dollar held onto its most of its gains against a basket of currencies overnight.
The pound went up 0.2% against the dollar after it fell by 1.6% in the previous session.
The U.S. Treasury yields were lower on Thursday.
The yield on benchmark 10 year notes fell 6 basis points to 4.0866%, while the yield on two-year notes fell 5 basis points to 4.5732%.
Oil prices fell by about 3% in the previous session due to fears of demand from China and rising U.S. crude stocks.
U.S crude oil futures fell by a similar margin to $92.37, while Brent crude futures fell by a similar margin to $85.59 per barrel.
The spot price of gold was unchanged at $1705.92 per ounce.