In today’s trading session, most Asian stocks saw a decline following the remarks from the US Federal Reserve about the possibility that the central bank may not implement the interest rate cuts that Wall Street has been expecting this year.

Investors are also cautious about the crucial month US jobs report scheduled later in the day, as uncertainty surrounding the timing of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve is becoming increasingly unclear this week. 

Japan’s Nikkei 225 share average dropped by almost 2% to reach a three-week low, marking its worst week performance since December 2022, as technology stocks fell following the trend set by Wall Street. 

Nikkei 225 went down by 1.96%, or 781 points, closing at 38,992.08 resulting in a weekly loss of 3.41%. Kazuo Kamitani, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities explained the reason for the Nikkei’s decline to technical factors. 

Kamatani highlighted the importance of the 25-day moving average, suggesting its influence on market sentiment and foreseeing potential volatility in stock market movements throughout the following week. 

The chip sector stocks contributed massively to the market decline, impacting the Nikkei. Tokyo Electron went down by 5.6%, resulting in a reduction of 217 points from the Nikkei 225. In addition, Advantest’s 4.85% decline erased another 81 points from the index. 

Other significant decliners included Softbank Group, a startup investor, which experienced a 2.77% slide, and Fast Retailing, the operator of the Uniqlo chain, which saw a decline of 2.26%

Out of the Nikkei’s 225 components, 159 recorded declines, while 62 showed advancements, with four remaining unchanged. The broader Topix index declined by 1.08%, with a sub-index of growth stocks dropping by 1.49%, in comparison to a 0.68% decrease for value stocks. 

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slightly went up by 0.17%, trading at 16,754.56. The Shanghai Composite, on the other hand, dropped by 0.18%, to 3,069.3 while the Shenzhen plummeted by 0.44%, to 9,544.77.

South Korea’s Kospi also witnessed a decline of 1.01%, trading at 2,714.21 and Nifty 50 declined by 0.13%, trading at 22,484.55. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 also went down by 0.56%, trading at 7,773.3