Markets in Asia-Pacific marked a second day of declines after Wall Street sold off on stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data, leaving room for more rate hikes ahead by the Federal Reserve.

Companies created far more jobs than expected, payroll processing firm ADP reported Thursday. Private sector jobs surged by 497,000 for the month, much better than the 220,000 Dow Jones consensus estimate. The increase resulted in the biggest monthly rise since July 2022.

The data also followed minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting, released Wednesday, which showed that most officials would support more rate increases ahead.

U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen is in Beijing for a four-day trip to meet Chinese officials, marking a deepening thaw in ties between the U.S. and China.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.9% in its final hour of trade as the Hang Seng Tech index dropped nearly 1%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.28% to 3,196.61 and the Shenzhen Component fell 0.73% to close at 10,888.55.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.69%, leading losses in the region, to close at 7,042.3.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.17% to end its session at 32,388.42 and the Topix shed 0.97% to close at 2,254.9. In South Korea, the Kospi slid 1.16% to close at 2,526.71 as Samsung Electronics estimated a 96% likely plunge in its second quarter operating profit.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 366.38 points, or 1.07%. The S&P 500 lost 0.79% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.82%. Thursday’s session marked the worst daily performance for the Dow and S&P 500 since May.

The three major indexes are on pace to finish the week lower with just Friday’s session left in the holiday-shortened trading week. The Dow is poised for a slide of 1.4% on the week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq, meanwhile, are on pace for weekly losses of 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.

— CNBC’s Alex Harring, Samantha Subin contributed to this report