Equities

Asian stock markets traded lower after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided to maintain its monetary policy in its October meeting.

The ASX 200 (-0.3%) and Nikkei 225 (-0.9%) were weighed down by big falls in the energy and mining sectors.

Hang Seng (-0.3%), and Shanghai Composite (-0.9%) declined despite another liquidity injection from PBoC.

Meanwhile, shares of real estate firm Kaisa Group declined 15% after S&P downgraded its rating due to reduced liquidity and increased refinancing risk.

Commodities

WTI crude futures suffered a loss of 2% on Thursday after EIA data showed U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 4.3 million barrels last week, easily beating market expectations of 1.9 million barrels.

Gold prices benefited from declining U.S. Treasury bond yields and amid a negative market mood, traded above the $ 1,800 level on Thursday.

Forex

The US dollar traded almost flat around 93.86 while US Treasury yields eased to 1.55% from 1.60% as investors remained to wait for a policy outlook from the Fed for the next meeting.

The JPY was strong amid a decline in global stock markets due to poor market sentiment, while the AUD was weighed down by a fall in commodity prices.

CAD lost some gains due to a sharp decline in crude oil prices.

Meanwhile, France released a list of possible sanctions against the UK in the wake of the Brexit fisheries crisis, which could prevent UK fishing boats from accessing certain ports from 2 November.