Australia

Australian shares are set to open lower, after US benchmarks declined following the Fed's widely expected interest-rate cut.

ASX futures were down 1.6% or 134 points as of 9:00am on Thursday, suggesting a lower open.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,100 points after the Federal Reserve signaled they might keep interest rates higher than investors expected in 2025.

The blue chip index gave up an early gain and fell for a 10th consecutive session, its longest losing streak in five decades, after Fed officials pared rates by a quarter percentage point and disappointed investors by signaling just two more cuts next year.

The declines followed the Fed's widely expected interest-rate cut, its third of 2024. They accelerated after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference spurred concerns that interest rates might not go down again anytime soon. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.6%, while the Dow fell 1,123 points, or 2.6%, and the S&P 500 lost nearly 3%.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was down 0.27% to US$72.99 a barrel, while gold was down 2.32% to US$2,585.35.

The Australian dollar was at 62.15 US cents, down from its previous close of 63.36.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6% to 3,382.21, and the Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.6% to 2,025.53.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index added 0.8% to 19,864.55.

Japanese shares closed lower. The Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.7% to 39,081.71.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX slipped 0.6% to 80,182.2.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished flat. The FTSE 100 Index was unchanged at 8,199.11.

In Europe, shares closed mixed. Germany's DAX was unchanged at 20,242.57, and France's CAC 40 increased 0.3% to 7,384.62.

North America

U.S. stocks ended lower. The DJIA fell 2.6% to 42,326.87, the S&P 500 slipped 2.9% to 5,872.16, and the Nasdaq dropped 3.6% to 19,392.69.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Jabil Inc JBL surging 6.99%, The Cigna Group CI jumped 6.47%, and UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH lifted 2.89%.

The biggest decliners were Paycom Software Inc PAYC which dropped 10.08%, Tesla Inc TSLA fell 8.28%, and BXP Inc BXP lost 7.63%.