Australian shares lost $45 billion in value after the US Fed said rising interest rates will continue.

Following Jerome Powell’s warning that higher interest rates were here to stay, the Australian stock market fell 1.7%, shedding more than $45 billion.

As a result of the Australian Securities Exchange’s investors’ negative response to his Friday night speech, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 opened 1.74 percent lower.

In order to combat the greatest American inflation in forty years, Mr. Powell had said that higher interest rates were necessary at the Jackson Hole Central Bank Symposium in Wyoming.

“Maintaining a tight policy posture for some time will probably be necessary to restore price stability,” he added.

“The historical evidence clearly advises against hasty policy easing,”