Pedestrians cross an intersection in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
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Asia-Pacific markets continued Friday’s sell-off as investors awaited key trade data from China and Taiwan this week, as well as decisions from central banks in Australia and India.
Japanese stocks led the region’s losses, with the Nikkei 225 and Topix falling as much as 7% in volatile trading. Heavyweight trading companies such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Sumitomo and Marubeni Both plummeted by about 10%.
At these levels, both the Nikkei and Topix are approaching bear market territory, down nearly 20% from their July 11 all-time highs.
Monday’s decline follows Friday’s plunge, with Japanese stocks Nikkei 225 Index The Topix and Topix fell more than 5% and 6% respectively. The Topix had its worst day in eight years, while the Nikkei had its worst day since March 2020.
In early trading on Monday, JPY It also rose to its highest level since January against the dollar, last trading at 144.97.
On Monday, S&P Global will release data on services sector activity for countries in the region, including India and China.
Taiwan’s benchmark index Taiex fell nearly 8%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 2.84%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia begins a two-day monetary policy meeting on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to hold interest rates steady at 4.35%, but markets will closely watch the monetary policy statement for clarity on whether the central bank is still considering raising rates.
Korean Cospi The KOSDAQ index fell 4.38%, and the KOSDAQ index fell 4.63%.
Hongkong Hang Seng Index Asia had the smallest decline, falling slightly by 0.22%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index rose slightly and was the only major index in positive territory.
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday after a much weaker-than-expected July jobs report stoked worries that the economy could slip into recession.
The Nasdaq index was the first of the three major benchmark indexes to enter the correction range, falling more than 10% from its historical high. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones are respectively 5.7% and 3.9% below their all-time highs.
this S&P 500 Index The Nasdaq fell 2.43%, down 1.84%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 610.71 points, or 1.51%.
—CNBC’s Pia Singh and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.
