Anika Begay
Pedestrians cross an intersection in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets continued last week’s sell-off as investors await key trade data from China and Taiwan this week, as well as central bank decisions from Australia and India.
Japanese markets led losses in the region, as the Nikkei 225 and Topix fell as much as 7% in volatile trading. Major trading houses such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui and associates, Sumitomo AND Marubeni all dropped by about 10%.
At these levels, both the Nikkei and the Topix are approaching bearish territory, having fallen nearly 20% from their all-time highs on July 11.
Monday’s decline follows the path of Friday, when Japan Nikkei225 and the 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 trading on Monday, the yen It also strengthened against the dollar, reaching its highest level since January and was last quoted at 144.97.
China’s services sector expanded faster in July, with the country’s purchasing managers’ index rising to 52.1 in July from 51.2 in June.
According to the Caixin survey, the acceleration in growth is due to faster growth in new business, “supported by sustained improvements in underlying demand conditions and an expansion in service supply.”
Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex fell nearly 8%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 2.84%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia kicks off its two-day monetary policy meeting on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to hold rates steady at 4.35%, but markets will be watching the policy statement for clarity on whether the RBA is still considering a rate hike.
South Korea I’m going to fell 4.38%, while the Kosdaq fell 4.63%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index posted the smallest loss in Asia, down 0.22%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 edged up marginally, the only major index in positive territory.
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday as a much weaker-than-expected July jobs report fueled fears the economy could slip into recession.
The Nasdaq was the first of the three major benchmarks to enter correction territory, down more than 10% from its all-time high. The S&P 500 and the Dow were 5.7% and 3.9% below their all-time highs, respectively.
THE S&P 500 Index fell 1.84%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.43%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 610.71 points, or 1.51%.
—Vscek’s Pia Singh and Hakyung Kim contributed to this article.
