Asian stocks plummeted in early trading Thursday following the skid on Wall Street.
Japan’s Nikkei
NIK, -3.89%
fell about 4% as stocks got added pressure from the yen’s overnight bounce. The dollar was just above ¥112, versus ¥112.36 in late New York trade and ¥113 Wednesday morning. Through Wednesday, the dollar had fallen five straight days versus the yen
USDJPY, -0.16%
and logged the biggest week-long drop since February, at 2%. And with a late drop in Treasury yields during U.S. trade, 10-year JGB yields were down a basis point at 0.14% and 30-years were down two basis points at 0.92%. Losses were widespread across all sectors, with SoftBank Group
9984, -7.14%
and robotics company Fanuc
6954, -6.69%
down around 7%, while export-reliant companies such as Toyota
7203, -2.57%
, Nintendo
7974, -3.96%
and Sony
6758, -5.83%
posted steep losses as well.
Chinese stocks were down more than 3%, putting mainland indexes at fresh multiyear lows, extending the woes which have made Chinese equities among the world’s worst performers this year. The Shanghai Composite Index
SHCOMP, -3.52%
is now down 20% for 2018.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng
HSI, -3.60%
slid more than 3%, a day after snapping a six-session losing streak, and was on pace to close at a new 15-month low. Tech stocks took a beating, with Sunny Optical
2382, -6.97%
, AAC Technologies
2018, -6.30%
and Tencent
0700, -6.84%
falling more than 5%. Automaker Geely
0175, -5.23%
, casino operator Galaxy Entertainment
0027, -5.12%
and oil company CNOOC
0883, -6.06%
also plunged.
Taiwan stocks fared even worse, with the Taiex
Y9999, -5.70%
down 5.7%, putting it at its lowest levels since May 2017. Heavyweights were down across the board with tech stocks hurting the most, as lens maker Largan
3008, -9.47%
fell 9% and capacitor maker Yageo
2327, -6.85%
sank almost 7%.
Australia’s ASX 200
XJO, -2.39%
dropped to levels last seen in late April and New Zealand’s NZX 50
NZ50GR, -3.04%
is set to log its first nine-day losing streak since July 2011. Korea’s Kospi
SEU, -3.20%
was off 2.8%, with Samsung
005930, -3.42%
down more than 2%. Singapore’s stock benchmark
STI, -2.70%
skidded to 20-month lows while Malaysia’s benchmark
FBMKLCI, -2.65%
hit three-month lows
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Source : MTV
