U.S. markets closed significantly lower on Wednesday. The DOW JONES lost -1.51% closing at 17,533.15 points, the S&P 500 slumped -1.64%, the biggest decline in 7 weeks, with a final quote of 2,026.14 points. Markets were weighed down by energy stocks as oil prices continued to decline to a five-year low after the OPEC cut its forecast on demand for Crude in 2015.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng is trading -0.73% at 23,352.84. China's volatile Shanghai Composite closed at 2,926.66 points, a decline of -0.45, shedding earlier gains.

Japan's Nikkei lost -0.89% closing at 17,257.4 after reaching 7 ½ year highs at the start of the week.