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    Fed rate cuts, BOJ rate decision

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    Japan ,Tokyo City skyline, Tokyo Tower. 

    Prisma By Dukas | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

    Asia-Pacific markets fell Thursday morning, tracking broad declines on Wall Street as the U.S. Federal Reserve cut borrowing rates for the third consecutive meeting while signaling fewer rate cuts ahead.

    Investors in Asia are looking ahead to an interest rate decision by the Bank of Japan after its two-day policy meeting. The central bank is expected to leave its target rate unchanged at 0.25%.

    The Japanese yen strengthened slightly on Thursday morning at 154.57 against the greenback.

    Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1.4% while Topix tumbled 1.27%. In South Korea, the Kospi index lost 1.84% and the Kosdaq index was down by 1.92%.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 1.91% lower.

    Meanwhile, futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 19,873, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s close of 19,864.55.

    The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Thursday delivered a 25-basis-point interest rate cut in lock-steps with the Fed. The country’s currency is tightly pegged to the U.S. dollar.

    Elsewhere, New Zealand’s economy sank into a recession, falling 1% in the September quarter from the prior quarter, according to the official statistics agency Stats NZ. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of decline.

    Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked by 1,123.03 points, or 2.58%, to 42,326.87, posting its first 10-day losing streak since 1974. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.95% to 5,872.16 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.56% to 19,392.69.

    The sell-off on Wall Street came after the central bank lowered its overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.25% to 4.5%. While the cut was widely anticipated, the Fed indicated there will only be two rate cuts in 2025, fewer than the four cuts in its previous forecast.

    “We moved pretty quickly to get to here, and I think going forward obviously we’re moving slower,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at the post-meeting press conference.

    — CNBC’s Brian Evans, Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.

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