Asian equities fell on Thursday, as robust US job data stoked expectations of future interest rate hikes and Chinese manufacturing activity slumped.

Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Sydney all saw declines. Oil prices have risen by roughly $1 per barrel.

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Data released by the United States government on Tuesday revealed that there were two jobs for every jobless person in July, lending credibility to claims that the economy can withstand additional rate rises to manage inflation, which is near multi-decade highs. Some investors expected the Federal Reserve to ease up due to signs that economic growth is cooling.

After a monthly manufacturing indicator revealed that activity declined again in August, the Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.9% to 3,197.15.

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The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo fell 0.6% to 28,039.91, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 1.1% to 19,731.49.

South Korea’s Kospi remained flat at 2,451.14, while Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 6,987.00.

New Zealand rose, while Singapore and Indonesia fell.

Investors are concerned that rate rises by the Fed and other central banks in Europe and Asia to combat inflation could derail global economic growth.

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Chair Jerome Powell stated on Friday that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates. This year, the Fed has hiked interest rates four times. Two of these were by 0.75 percentage points, which is three times the average margin.

According to Moya, traders anticipate a 0.75 percentage point increase in September, a half-point increase in November, and a 0.25 point increase in December.

The benchmark S&P 500 index slid 1.1% to 3,986.16 on Wall Street. It has now dropped 5.5% in the last five days.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1% to 31,790.87 points. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.1% to 11,883.14 points.

On the last day of July, the US government recorded 11.2 million available positions. This was an increase from 11 million in June, and the June number was also revised higher.

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In the oil sector, the New York Mercantile Exchange’s electronic trading saw benchmark U.S. crude rose 89 cents to $92.53 a barrel. On Tuesday, the contract fell by $5.37 to $91.64. In London, Brent crude increased 93 cents to $98.77 per barrel.

The dollar fell to 138.58 yen from 138.67 yen on Tuesday. The euro rose from $1.0021 to $1.0026.