SYDNEY: Asian stock markets were braced for a fall on Thursday in line with Wall Street after the US central bank confirmed that it would begin to withdraw stimulus this year if the economy continued to recover as it expected.Tokyo's Nikkei futures in Chicago <0#NIY:> and Australia's share price index futures fell, pointing to weaker openings for two of Asia-Pacific's main markets, following a 1.4 percent slide in the US S&P 500 index.Traders said markets could come under even more pressure if a report on China's factory activity, due at 0145 GMT, provided fresh evidence of weakness in Asia's economic powerhouse."Given the market's growing fears over a hard landing for the Chinese economy, a particularly weak number could add to the post-FOMC selling pressure on the emerging currencies as well as the commodity bloc currencies," analysts at BNP Paribas wrote in a note.On Wednesday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares ...
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