"Asian Stocks" Asia-Pacific stock markets fell, with the Nikkei down over 3%, and South Korean and Indian stock markets each down over 2%

Israel attacks Iranian gas fields, and Iran retaliates with attacks on Qatar and Saudi oil and gas facilities, causing oil prices to rise. The U.S. producer price index exceeded expectations last month, and the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain interest rates was in line with expectations, but it reduced the forecast for rate cuts this year to once. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 700 points on the evening of the 18th, and the Asia-Pacific stock markets followed suit with declines.

The Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China conducted two rounds of central treasury cash management commercial bank time deposit bidding operations, totaling 250 billion yuan. The People's Bank of China conducted a net withdrawal of 11.5 billion yuan in its seven-day reverse repurchase operations. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 38 points or nearly 1%, closing at 4,024 points; the Shenzhen Component Index dropped 157 points or 1.1%, closing at 14,030 points. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell 432 points or 1.7%, closing at 25,592 points, with a turnover of 153.5 billion yuan. The Taiwan Weighted Index fell 484 points or 1.4%, closing at 33,864 points. TSMC and Hon Hai fell 2.6% and 2.4%, respectively, MediaTek fell 3.2%, and Delta Electronics fell 1%.

The Bank of Japan announced that it would maintain interest rates, and the Nikkei Index fell 1,703 points or 3.1%, closing at 53,535 points. SoftBank fell 4.8%, Fast Retailing fell 3%, and trading companies Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi Corporation, Marubeni, and Itochu fell between 3.2% and 4%. The South Korean KOSPI fell 137 points or 2.3%, closing at 5,787 points. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Hyundai Motor fell between 3.2% and 3.6%.

The Indian Nifty50 Index fell 506 points or 2.1%, closing at 23,271 points. Bank stock HDFC fell 5.2%, tech stock Eternal fell 4.4%, and non-bank financial stock Shiriam Financial fell 4%.

The Australian S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 149 points or 1.7% at the close, closing at 8,491 points. Mining stocks BHP and Rio Tinto each fell 3.2%, and gold mining stock Newmont fell 5.1%. The New Zealand Exchange 50 Index fell 263 points or 2% at the close, closing at 13,051 points.

The Singapore Straits Times Index fell 22 points or 0.4% at midday, closing at 4,979 points. DBS Bank fell 0.3%, OCBC Bank rose 0.5%, and state-owned Sembcorp Industries rose nearly 2%. The Malaysian stock market rose 0.2%, the Thai stock market fell 0.6%, the Philippine stock market fell 1.6%, and the stock markets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam each fell 0.9%. The Indonesian stock market is closed for the holiday