People shopping along the streets of Shinsaibashi in Osaka, Japan.
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Asia-Pacific markets fell across the board as investors prepared for signals on U.S. monetary policy from central bankers’ comments at the Jackson Hole meeting on Friday, including a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
In Asia, the core inflation rate for Japan’s capital Tokyo came in at 2.8% for August, slightly below the 2.9% expected by economists polled by Reuters. The core inflation rate strips out prices of fresh food.
Overall inflation for Tokyo was recorded at 2.9%, lower than the 3.2% seen in July.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.69% on its open, while the Topix was down 0.9%, while South Korea’s fell 1.04% and the Kosdaq shed 0.8%
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 also opened lower, dropping 1.19%.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 18,053, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 18,212.17.
On Thursday in the U.S., all three major indexes fell as the tech fueled rally ended, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average seeing its worst day since March, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite saw their biggest one-day loss since Aug. 2.
The Dow closed 1.08% lower and the S&P 500 lost 1.35%. The Nasdaq saw the largest loss, shedding 1.87%.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min and Alex Harring contributed to this report