 "stocks, markets, funds, growth, investments")
Global stock markets were mostly lower Thursday after the Federal Reserve indicated it might ease off economic stimulus earlier than previously thought.
London and Frankfurt opened lower while Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney fell. Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced.
US futures were lower after Fed policymakers on Wednesday estimated their benchmark rate would rise twice by late 2023, earlier than a previous forecast of no hikes before 2024.
The Fed indicated it sees the US economy improving faster than expected.
Ultra-low rates from the Fed and other central banks have propelled a global stock market rebound from last year's plunge amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Fed may have delivered a more hawkish message for markets than many would have expected, Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report.
Still, Yeap said, differing views among board members suggests much will still depend on how the economic recovery will play out.
In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.3 per cent to 7,165.60 and Frankfurt's DAX was off less than 0.1 per cent at 15,699.25.
The CAC 40 in Paris retreated 0.1 per cent to 6,645.49.
On Wall Street, futures for the benchmark S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.3 per cent.
The S&P 500 index fell 0.5 per cent on Wednesday after Fed projections showed some of its board members expect short-term interest rates to rise by half a percentage point by late 2023.
The Dow lost 0.8 per cent and the Nasdaq composite shed 0.2 per cent.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.9 per cent to 29,018.33 while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2 per cent to 3,525.60. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4 per cent to 28,558.59.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange said it suffered technical problems as a wave of internet outages hit financial institutions, airlines and other companies across the globe. The exchange said later its websites were back to normal.
The Kospi in Seoul sank 0.4 per cent to 3,264.96 and India's Sensex lost 0.2 per cent at 52,375.76.
Australia's S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.4 per cent to 7,359.00 after the government reported employment rose by 115,200 in May, up 8.1 per cent from its low a year ago.
New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta declined while Bangkok advanced.
The Fed's announcement Wednesday reflected growing confidence in the US economy as more people are vaccinated against the coronavirus and business activity revives.
Investors have worried the Fed and other central banks might feel pressure to withdraw stimulus to cool rising inflation.
Fed officials have said they believe inflation will be short-lived, a stance they repeated Wednesday.
Fed chairman Jerome Powell said conditions have improved enough to start discussing when to slow bond purchases.
The Fed is buying USD 120 billion a month to inject money into financial markets and keep longer-term interest rates low.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 1.55 per cent from 1.50 per cent late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which moves more closely with expectations for Fed policy, rose to 0.20 per cent from 0.16 per cent.
In energy markets, benchmark US crude lost 27 cents to USD 71.89 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract rose 3 cents on Wednesday to USD 72.15. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, shed 26 cents to USD 74.13 per barrel in London. It gained 40 cents the previous session to USD 74.39.
The dollar gained to 110.63 Japanese yen from Wednesday's 110.50 yen. The euro fell to USD 1.1949 from USD 1.2016.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
