By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were down on Thursday morning as investors kept an eye on high inflation and tightening monetary policies.

China’s stayed unchanged by 10:27 PM ET (2:27 AM GMT) while the also stay unchanged. The Chinese developer didn’t pay the dollar-bond coupon prior to Wednesday deadline, and it expects that it won’t make any payments on other notes.

Hong Kong’s was down 0.79%. Hong Kong intervened for its currency to be protected, this was the first time it had done so since 2019. Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) bought approximately HK$1.59 Billion to protect its currency after it fell below the 7.75-to-7.85 greenback.

Japan’s fell 0.78% while South Korea’s fell 0.34%.

The Australian dollar was at a record low of 0.56%.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening is causing concern among investors. A decline of 2.90% was seen in the 10-year US yield.

For equities, “we’re seeing the beginning of the capitulation and the great reset, if you want, in pricing,” Virginie Maisonneuve, global chief investment officer for equity at Allianz (ETR:) Global Investors UK, told Bloomberg. “Right now the big question is peak inflation.”

Fed officials maintained their original approach to raising rates by half of what they did at their two next meetings.

“Until we get a meaningful move lower in inflation, not only one print, but a consistent two, three, four prints moving in the right direction, this market may remain range bound,” Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones & Co., said on Bloomberg Television.

The U.S. will soon release their and data later today. Mary Daly, President of the San Francisco Fed will also speak that day.