Less-dovish Fed weighs on stocks Thursday 08:00 GMT. Equity benchmarks are retreating and the dollar is strengthening after the Federal Reserve challenged perceptions it was very unlikely to taper stimulus in the few months. The FTSE All-World index, which on Wednesday hit a near six-year intraday of 264.2, is down 0.4 per cent to 262.2. The dollar index, which last week touched an eight-month low of 79.0, is up 0.1 per cent to 79.84. The US central bank's $85bn-a-month of asset purchases is seen by many market participants as an important support for stocks and bonds globally, so chances that quantitative easing programme will be curtailed tends to have a negative impact on investor sentiment. "We see a continued bias to scale back QE and view tapering in December as a 50-50 proposition, depending on data," wrote analysts at HSBC in a note to clients. The supposedly less dovish than expected statement from the Fed is thus providing the excuse for risk asset and bond bulls to pare back bets after enjoying a good run. US 10-year Treasury yields, which hit a three-month trough of 2.47 per cent just before the Fed announcement on Wednesday, is steady at 2.53 per cent. Equivalent duration Bunds are playing catch up, with yields adding 2 basis points to 1.71 per cent. Wall Street can expect to see weakness on the final day of the month. S&P 500 futures suggest the New York benchmark will fall another 5 points to 1,759, after retreating from a new intraday record of 1,775 in the previous session. This dip is feeding into Asia and Europe as investors also struggle to absorb one of the busiest days of the year for global corporate results. The Stoxx 600 is opening with a 0.2 per cent decline after the Asia-Pacific region shed 0.7 per cent. Indeed, poorly-received numbers from the likes of Toshiba and Honda Motor provided extra downward pressure to Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 fell 1.2 per cent. Japanese stocks were also hampered by the yen recovering some of the previous days losses versus the dollar to trade 0.2 per cent firmer at Y98.31, despite the Bank of Japan reiterating its commitment to keep easing monetary policy. However, the prospect of more BoJ buying pushed benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yields below 0.59 per cent for the first time since early May, even though data showed manufacturing sentiment in Japan hit a three-year high this month. The meek pace of global growth was illustrated by softer than forecast GDP figures from Taiwan. The Taiex equity index fell 0.2 per cent after faltering exports caused the economy to expand at an annual pace of 1.58 per cent in the third quarter, compared with a government forecast of 2.47 per cent. Mainland China was weak, the Shanghai Composite losing 0.9 per cent, while Honk Kong's Hang Seng also mirrored the generally sour global mood, falling 0.5 per cent. It's likely such wariness over aggregate demand will not be helping industrial resources. Copper is off 0.8 per cent to $3.30 a pound and Brent crude is slipping 29 cents to $109.57 a barrel. A slightly stronger buck also may be putting pressure on dollar-denominated commodities, including gold, which is losing $7 to $1,335 an ounce.