Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower Thursday after the Federal Reserve said U.S. inflation is too high, suggesting support for more aggressive interest rate hikes, the Associated Press reported. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. Oil prices edged higher. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5% to 3,274.83 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 0.9% to 28,963.16. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 0.7% to 19,776.99. The Kospi in Seoul gave up 0.4% to 2,506.26 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 retreated 0.3% to 7,105.10. India's Sensex opened down 0.2 at 60,161.37. New Zealand and Bangkok declined while Singapore and Jakarta advanced. In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 3 cents to $88.14 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $1.58 to $88.11 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the price basis for international trading, gained 1 cent to $93.66 per barrel in London. It surged $1.31 the previous session to $93.65. The dollar rose to 135.10 yen from Wednesday's 135.05 yen. The euro rose to $1.0172 from $1.0169.
