Asian stocks retreat on lack of direction from Fed, pandemic

SINGAPORE (AP) — Asian stock markets retreated Thursday after U.S. central bank policymakers made no firm decision on when to unwind their support measures for the economy.

Regional indices tracked losses on Wall Street. The lack of a directive from the Federal Reserve fueled worries over surging coronavirus infections caused by the delta variant, and the pandemic's impact on consumer spending and jobs growth.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 slipped 1.1% to 27,281.17. The Kospi in South Korea lost 1.9% to 3,099.64 and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up 0.6% to 3,464.08 in afternoon trading.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 2.2% at 25,304.72. Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 declined 0.5% to 7,464.60.

Losses were recorded throughout the Asia-Pacific region except in New Zealand and the Philippines.

Chinese tech stocks tumbled on fears of tighter regulation. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group shares in Hong Kong sank 5%. Internet search giant Baidu Inc. fell 1.7%, while games and social media giant Tencent Holding Ltd. lost 1.8%.

Minutes of the Fed's July 27-28 meeting, released Wednesday, indicated that most officials in attendance thought it was “appropriate” to begin reducing the pace of asset purchases this year.

This is “provided that the economy were to evolve broadly as they anticipated," according to the minutes.

The Fed's purchases were meant to lower long-term interest rates and encourage borrowing and spending. It includes Treasury and mortgage bond buying, which now amounts to $120 billion a month. However, officials stopped short of setting a firm timeline.

“The minutes only emphasized the central bankers’ uncertainty about the path of the economy and monetary policy heading into 2022,” Matt Weller, global head of research at FOREX.com and City Index, wrote in a note.

“Taken...