Most of the markets in Asia went down on Thursday despite good performance from Wall Street, as the prices of oil recovered some losses after an overnight loss of 4 percent.
The Nikkei 225 index of Japan went down 0.54 percent, while the Kospi index of South Korea was lower by 19 percent.
The S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.03 percent as weakness in the financials sector was balanced out by gains in the materials and health-care sectors.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.32 percent. Stocks in the mainland traded lower. The Shanghai Composite went down 0.31 percent and the Shenzhen Composite sipped 0.379 percent.
The 30-year Japanese government bond yield went up to 0.883 percent, its highest level since late February, with the move possibly being a result of the expectation from the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve and other central banks to tighten monetary policy.
Shares of Geely, a Hong Kong-listed stock, retreated from earlier gains to trade down 0.81 percent.
Investors looked at the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting in June issued on Wednesday at the United States’ local time. The minutes reflected that multiple officials from the Federal Reserve raised their concern over the effect of the interest rate hikes on the markets. Officials were also split over when unwinding the fed’s balance sheet would begin.