The New York Stock Exchange was mostly in the red after Wednesday's double Fed announcement: Kevin Warsh was given the green light to become the new head of the central bank, and the interest rate was left unchanged amid major internal disagreement. At the same time, oil prices continue to rise from already high levels.
Several stock exchanges in Asia are taking a back seat to US trading and appear to be ending the month on a down note. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei 225 is down 1.0 percent, while the Topix is down 1.5 percent.
Despite the strong quarterly report from giant Samsung, the Seoul stock market is also falling. The Kospi was down 0.6 percent just before noon local time.
In China, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange is down 0.2 percent. The Shanghai market is marginally better, down 0.1 percent. The Hong Kong-based Hang Seng is down 1.3 percent.
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