U.S. Fed rates, gold, Nikkei 225, HSI

Spot gold prices rose to a new record on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate steady in its target range of 3.5% to 3.75% overnight.

Bullion rose more than 3%, breaking the $5,500-per-ounce mark for the first time.

Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly lower on Thursday. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.69%.

of japan Nikkei 225 Topix lost 0.33%, reversing early gains to fall 0.14%. South Korea’s Kospi index was unchanged, while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 1.87%.

Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 2.58% at the open on Thursday, then reversed course and fell around 1%. The company on Thursday reported a more than tripling increase in fourth-quarter profit; It surpassed forecasts, reaching a new record due to memory chip shortages and strong demand for AI servers.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.23% in choppy trading, while the mainland’s CSI 300 fell 0.31%.

Investors will be closely monitoring developments in Indonesia after the benchmark Jakarta Composite fell more than 8 percent on Wednesday after index provider MSCI issued a warning of a possible downgrade to the country’s frontier market status.

Trading was halted after the benchmark fell 8 percent on Thursday. according to a press release The exchange-traded Indonesian rupiah fell marginally to 16,778 against the dollar.

Goldman Sachs downgraded its weighting of Indonesia to underweight due to expectations of more passive selling, the investment bank said in a note published Thursday. The bank’s strategists also evaluated this development as “a bulge that will disrupt market performance.”

While Singapore’s central bank left monetary policy unchanged on Thursday, it warned of upside risks to inflation and demand as the city-state’s economic outlook remains resilient. The country’s benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.19%.

Overnight in the US, the S&P 500 hit the milestone level of 7,000 for the first time before pulling back as the Fed left interest rates unchanged and raised its assessment of economic growth.

The broad market index closed the day at 6,978.03, down 0.01%. Earlier, the S&P 500 had reached an all-time high of 7,002.28, up 0.3% for the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 49,015.60 points, up 0.02%. The Nasdaq Composite fared better, gaining 0.17% to settle at 23,857.45.

Treasury yields rose following the Fed’s decision, as the central bank’s statement revealed that economic activity was “expanding at a solid pace” and the unemployment rate “showed some signs of stabilization.”

“I think, and many of my colleagues do, that it’s hard to look at the data coming in and say that policy is significantly restrictive right now,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at a news conference.

—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.