Asian stocks follow Wall St lower amid inflation pressure

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower on Friday after higher-than-expected U.S. inflation dashed hopes the Federal Reserve might ease off more interest rate hikes.

Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. Oil edged higher.

Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index lost 1.1% on Thursday, adding to declines since this week's release of government data showing inflation stayed near a four-decade high in August despite four interest rate hikes this year to slow the economy.

On Thursday, U.S. government data showed unemployment claims last week declined while August consumer sales rose. That gives ammunition to Federal Reserve officials who say the economy can tolerate more rate hikes.

Wall Street's decline indicates “no sign of relief for risk sentiments” while the job market data “provided the go-ahead for further tightening” in monetary policy, Yeap Jun Rong of

IG said in a report.

The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.7% to 3,178.31 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo sank 1.1% to 27,568.68. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 0.8% to 18,800.78.

The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.6% to 2,386.81 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 was 1.2% lower at 6,762.00. Singapore gained less than 0.1% while New Zealand and other Southeast Asian markets declined.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 declined to 3,901.35 after the Labor Department said the number of applications for unemployment benefits last week fell to a four-month low.

The market benchmark is down 4.1% for the week following the biggest pullback in two years on Tuesday after the government reported U.S. consumer prices rose 8.3% from a year earlier and 0.1% compared with July.

The overall figure was down from June's 9.1% peak, but core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose to 0.6% over the previous month, up from July's 0.3% increase.