Asian Shares Dafter Retreats on Wall Street, Europe

Friday saw a decline in Asian shares that was mirrored by declines in Wall Street and Europe, as markets grew uneasy over the possibility that the Federal Reserve and other central banks would really start recessions in order to limit inflation.

U.S. futures and oil prices increased somewhat.

Hopes for an end to the severe interruptions caused by lockdowns and other stringent measures to avoid infections have been raised by China's decision to remove COVID restrictions. However, indications of drastically increasing case counts have stoked concern, with some people concerned that the pandemic may continue to harm the economy.

Shanghai Composite index fell 0.4% to 3,157.58, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng moved up 0.1% to 19,395.84.

Manufacturing was reported as having a preliminary reading of 48.8, down from November's reading of 49.0 on a 0-100 scale where 50 denotes the transition between contraction and expansion.

“This is consistent with the downbeat production forecasts issued by firms. Lingering weakness in demand was likely the main cause," Capital Economics said in a report.

While Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8% to 7,148.70, the Kospi in Seoul fell 0.4% to 2,349.92.

Taiwanese stock prices dropped 1.4%, and the SET in Bangkok declined 0.4%. Mumbai fell 1.4%.

The S&P 500 lost its early-week gains on Thursday, dropping 2.5% to 3,895.75. The Dow fell 2.2% to 33,202.22 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 3.2% to 10,810.53.

To 1,774.61, the Russell 2000 index fell 2.5%.