Corporate earnings take centre stage

CORPORATE earnings reporting dominated the centre stage on Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady in line with market's expectations.

The committee signalled that the US central bank has noted the uptick in inflation but isn't likely to hike rates more than the market's expectations of three for 2018. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.72 per cent, or 174 points, to 23,924, its fourth straight decline.

In Asia, the Dow futures were up 31 points, at 23,856.00. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, traded flat in percentage terms.