Asian markets moved without clear direction on Thursday as investors weighed a divided Federal Reserve decision against continued volatility in South Korean equities. The Fed held rates between 3.5% and 3.75% with a 9-3 vote, the most contested decision of Chair Kevin Warsh’s short tenure, who again declined to signal the central bank’s next move. South Korea’s KOSPI plunged nearly 6% on Wednesday, triggering a circuit breaker for a second consecutive session, bringing the decline to roughly 40% from its June peak. Authorities cut the maximum retail allocation in single-stock leveraged ETFs to 20% to curb amplified losses. Samsung Electronics, however, posted a record quarterly profit surge of more than 1,800% year over year, driven by booming AI memory chip demand.
Source: Read the original article
