An elderly man stands before a stock market indicator board in Tokyo yesterday. Tokyo shares tumbled 2.29%, or 230.40 points, to 9,819.99 for the day
AFP/Tokyo

Asian markets slipped yesterday after minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting dealt a blow to hopes it will launch any new stimulus measures in the near term.
Regional shares followed Wall Street lower on disappointment that markets will not be greased with any more cash as the Fed said it would play a wait-and-see game.
Tokyo tumbled 2.29%, or 230.40 points, to 9,819.99; Seoul was 1.50%, or 30.67 points, off at 2,018.61 and Sydney closed flat, edging down 3.1 points to 4,333.9.
Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei were closed for public holidays.
The Federal Open Market Committee’s mid-March meeting minutes showed bankers considered improved employment, housing and financial market data as just “positive, on balance”.
The committee made limited mention of monetary easing.
However, it said some members “indicated that the initiation of additional stimulus could become necessary if the economy lost momentum or if inflation seemed likely to remain below its mandate-consistent rate of two%”.
The news surprised many Fed watchers and hit Wall Street, with the Dow falling 0.49%, the Nasdaq down 0.20% and the S&P 500 off 0.40%.
“The decline in US stocks suggests that market participants may have expected the Fed to do more,” said Eric Viloria, senior currency strategist at Forex.com in a note.
“However, if the economy continues to firm as anticipated, the dip in equities may be seen as buying opportunities if the recovery becomes self-sustaining,” he added, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Eurozone fears resurfaced after Spanish unemployment hit a new high in March while other data showed the nation’s public debt will soar more than 10 percentage points this year to 79.8% of gross domestic product.
The news stoked fears that another crisis similar to that of Greece was brewing in the eurozone.
And in Europe a poor debt auction by Madrid added to the woes on Wednesday.
In other Asian markets; Singapore closed 0.99%, or 29.94 points, lower at 2,985.04; Wellington closed 0.21%, or 7.33 points, higher at 3,480.42; Manila closed 0.35%, or 17.56 points, lower at 5,038.92; Kuala Lumpur was down 0.46%, or 7.36 points, at 1,599.27; Bangkok closed 1.07%, or 12.98 points, lower at 1,198.09 and Jakarta finished 1.93%, or 81.41 points, off at 4,134.04.