Pedestrians cross an intersection in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan, on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg |
Asia-Pacific markets continued last week's sell-off as investors awaited key trade data from China and Taiwan, as well as decisions from central banks in Australia and India, this week.
Japanese markets were the biggest losers in the region, with the Nikkei 225 and the Topix losing as much as 7% in volatile trading. Heavyweight trading houses such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Co, Sumitomo And Marubeni all fell by about 10%.
At this level, both the Nikkei and Topix are approaching bear market territory, having fallen nearly 20 percent since their all-time high on July 11.
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Monday’s decline follows Friday’s defeat, when Japan’s Nikkei225 and Topix fell more than 5% and 6%, respectively. The broader Topix posted its worst day in eight years, while the Nikkei posted its worst day since March 2020.
In early Monday trading, the yen It also recovered against the dollar, reaching its highest level since January and last trading at 144.97.
China's services sector expanded faster in July, with the country's purchasing managers' index rising to 52.1 in July (it was 51.2 in June).
According to the Caixin survey, the acceleration in growth is due to faster growth of new business areas, “supported by sustained improvements in underlying demand conditions and an expansion of service offerings.”
Taiwan's benchmark index Taiex lost almost 8%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 2.84%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia begins its two-day monetary policy meeting on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to keep the key interest rate at 4.35%. However, markets will be watching the policy statement for clarity on whether the RBA is still considering a rate hike.
South Korea's Kospi lost 4.38%, while the Kosdaq fell 4.63%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index In Asia, the decline was smallest at 0.22 percent, while the CSI 300 in mainland China rose slightly, making it the only major index to gain.
Stock prices in the US fell sharply on Friday as a much weaker-than-expected employment report for July fueled concerns that the economy could slide into recession.
The Nasdaq was the first of the three major indexes to enter correction zone, falling more than 10 percent below its record high. The S&P 500 and the Dow were 5.7 percent and 3.9 percent below their all-time highs, respectively.
The S&P500 fell 1.84%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.43%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 610.71 points, or 1.51%.
— CNBC's Pia Singh and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
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