Asia stocks fell on Thursday following Fed’s economic forecast

Asia stocks fell on Thursday as the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated on Wednesday that it would keep interest rates near zero through 2022.

Shares in Australia were among the biggest losers regionally, with S&P/ASX 200 dropping 3.05% to close at 5,960.60.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 2.82% on the day to 22,472.91 while the Topix index shed 2.2% to close at 1,588.92. Over in South Korea, the Kospi slipped 0.86% to finish its trading day at 2,176.78.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore’s Straits Times Index dropped 3.56% in afternoon trade.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed 2.27% lower at 24,480.15. Shares of Chinese internet giant NetEase surged in their Hong Kong debut on Thursday, jumping more than 5% from their issue price.

Mainland Chinese stocks fell on the day, with the Shanghai composite down 0.78% to around 2,920.90 and Shenzhen component 0.814% lower at approximately 11,243.62.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index fell 1.7%.