Asian markets down as US continues to decline, FTSE ends with losses

Markets fell in Asia on Thursday following a second straight day of losses on Wall Street in response to Federal Reserve minutes indicating it could begin withdrawing its huge financial support by the end of the year.

All major indices are trading in the red, with Japan’s Nikkei over 200 per cent, Hang Seng 1.7 per cent and Shanghai Composite 0.7 per cent down.

India’s stock markets remained close for the national holiday of Muharram.

US stocks had a second weak session this week with all three blue-chip indexes declining. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and &P 500 ended over 1 per cent down. Nasdaq Composite was also 0.9 per cent down.

London’s FTSE 100 declined on Wednesday as investor sentiment remained muted globally. The blue-chip index ended 12 points or 0.16 per cent down, at 7,169. Just Eat Takeaway was the biggest gainer zooming over 5 per cent.