Crowded Dotonbori bridge over water canal with illuminated signs and billboards , long exposure, motion blurred crowd at Night. Unrecognizable Crowd. Dotonbori, Osaka, Japan, Asia.
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Asia-Pacific markets extended their sell-off Monday as fears over a global trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs fueled a risk-off mood.
Japanese markets led losses in the region in early trade. The benchmark Nikkei 225 plunged 6.40% to hit an 18-month low while the broader Topix index plummeted 6.62%. Earlier in the day, trading in Japanese futures was suspended due the market hitting circuit breakers.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index fell 5.01%, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 4.37%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 5.34% to hit an 18-month low. The benchmark slid into correction territory with an 11% decline since its last high in February, in its previous session.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 22,772 pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI’s last close of 22,849.81.
U.S. futures dropped as investors’ hopes of the Trump administration having successful negotiations with countries to lower the rates were dashed.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil prices dropped below $60 a barrel on Sunday stateside. Futures tied to U.S. West Texas intermediate crude fell more than 3% to $59.74, their lowest since April 2021.
Trump’s top economic officials dismissed any fears of inflation and recession, declaring that tariffs would persist whatever markets may do.
Stocks in the U.S. sold off sharply last Friday, after China retaliated with fresh tariffs on U.S. goods, sparking fears of a global trade war that could lead to a recession in the world’s largest economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2,231.07 points, or 5.5%, to 38,314.86 on Friday, the biggest decline since June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 nosedived 5.97% to 5,074.08, its biggest decline since March 2020.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite, which captures many tech companies that sell to China and manufacture there as well, dropped 5.8%, to 15,587.79. This takes the index down by 22% from its December record, representing a bear market in Wall Street terminology.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Alex Harring and John Melloy contributed to this report.
Spot gold plunges below $3,000 as investors selloff bullion to cover losses
Spot gold plunged below the $3,000 threshold on Monday after hitting a record high and crossing the $3,100 per last week.
The precious metal was trading at $2,981.69 per ounce as at 9.07 a.m. Singapore time, as investors sold off bullion to cover their losses from a wider market meltdown.
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Spot gold
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 share average plunged to its lowest point in more than 18 months.
The benchmark plunged 6.46% as at 10.50 a.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time to 7,170.60, its lowest since October 2023.
Strong declines were seen among names in mining as well as banking and financials.
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S&P/ASX 200
Japan’s Nikkei 225 share average tumbled to its lowest point in about 18 months.
The benchmark plunged 8.83% as at 9.25 a.m. local time to 30,794.21, its lowest since October 2023.
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Nikkei 225
The worst-performing stocks in the index include Fukuoka Financial Group which plunged 9.47%, Yamaha Corp which lost 9.32% and Kuraray Co which declined 9.26%, according to LSEG data.
The broader Topix index plunged 9.6%.
The declines were led by Land Co which dropped 12.5%, CareNet which was down 12.21% and KLab which lost 11.11%.
— Amala Balakrishner
