Asian markets were mostly lower on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve 'stuck to a hawkish bent overnight and as metals prices tumbled.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: .AXJO) shed 0.45 percent by 9:45 a.m. HK/SIN, weighed by declines in resources and bank plays.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: .HSI) fell 0.39 percent. On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) lost 0.59 percent and the Shenzhen Composite (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJSZ) lost 0.51 percent.

In South Korea, the Kospi (Korea Stock Exchange: .KS11) was up 0.52 percent after being closed on Wednesday.

Singapore's Straits Times Index (Singapore Exchange: .STI) shed 0.48 percent, while Taiwan's Taiex (Taiwan Stock Exchange: .TPAI) edged up 0.01 percent.

Japan's markets were closed for the Greenery Day holiday.

Among Australian resources plays, Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO-AU) dropped 2.29 percent and BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP-AU) fell 0.67 percent, after shedding 2.31 percent on Wednesday. Fortescue (ASX: FMG-AU) lost 4.12 percent and Newcrest (ASX: NCM-AU) shed 2.55 percent.

Tony Farnham, economic strategist at Patersons, said in a note Thursday morning, "most base metal prices were torched in Wednesday LME trading, with spot copper, nickel and zinc prices dropping by more than 3 percent on the day."

The drop in copper prices came after a jump in inventories increased worries about an economic slowdown in China, the world's largest consumer of the metal.

The inventory rise compounded concerns after the Caixin/Markit manufacturing PMI for April, released on Tuesday, showed a greater-than-expected decline to 50.3, the lowest since September 2016.

Declines in base-metal prices had already helped to weigh the Australian dollar (Exchange: AUD=), which took another leg down after China Caixin Services PMI for April showed the sector's growth cooled to its slowest in nearly a year.

The Aussie was fetching $0.7407 at 10:24 a.m., down from around $0.7422 before the data's release, after falling from as high as $0.7545 in Wednesday Asian trade amid the metals price falls.

Among the banks, NAB (: ) was up 0.39 percent. The bank reported first-half cash profit rose 2.3 percent to A$3.29 billion, beating a forecast for A$3.24 billion, according to Reuters.

But other banks stumbled, with ANZ (: ) down 1.53 percent, extending Wednesday's 2.79 percent fall, while CBA (ASX: CBA-AU) fell 0.81 percent and Westpac (ASX: WBC-AU) lost 1.14 percent.

The Fed concluded its two-day policy meeting Wednesday afternoon, giving a positive assessment of the U.S. economy while keeping rates unchanged, as was widely expected.