FxWirePro: Daily Commodity Tracker - 21st March, 2022 
Sharp gains in Asian equities on Wednesday were soon reversed a day later, with Asian bourses swimming in a sea of red after Wall Street closed down heavily overnight and commodity prices fell. All three of the main US equity indices closed over 1% lower on Wednesday, setting up Asia for a bearish session on Thursday, wiping out yesterday's rally.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index tumbled 3.25% to 18,159.99 points in morning trade, with only a handful of shares on the index trading with gains, while Tokyo's broader Topix gauge fell 2.39% to 1,471.29 points.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index plummeted 2.20% to 21,643.64 points within the first hour of trade, and mainland China's benchmark Shanghai Composite fell 1.04% to 3,209.34 points at the same time.
Korea's benchmark Kospi index fell 0.53% to 1,923.94 points this morning in Seoul.
The benchmark Australian S&P/ASX 200 index plunged 2.49% to 5,090.90 points in Sydney, with almost all 200 stocks on the index trading in red. Economic news from Australia was slightly more upbeat, as the unemployment rate dropped from 6.3% in July to 6.2% last month, and a net 17,400 jobs were added to the economy last month, beating the market forecast of 5,000.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was largely spared losses, trading down just 0.06% at 5,668.02 points this afternoon in Wellington. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) cut interest rates on Thursday, with the Official Cash Rate slashed from 3% to 2.75%. The bank signalled that further rate cuts were on the way and said that further New Zealand dollar depreciation seemed likely.
