Markets in Asia-Pacific declined Wednesday morning after shares on Wall Street tumbled overnight stateside.
Mainland Chinese stocks dropped in morning trade, with the Shanghai composite slipping 1.48% while the Shenzhen component declined 2.638%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 1.16%.
Chinese inflation data for August released Wednesday showed the producer price index declined 2.0% in August from a year earlier, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. That was in line with expectations for a 2.0% fall in a Reuters poll. The consumer price index in August rose 2.4% as compared with a year ago, also in line with expectations of analysts in a Reuters poll.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 1.57% while the Topix index fell 1.6%.
South Korea’s Kospi also slipped 0.91%. Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 2.54%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan traded 1.24% lower.
The moves regionally came as Investors reacted to overnight declines on Wall Street. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.1% to close at 10,847.69. Tuesday’s drop put the tech-heavy Nasdaq down 10% over the past three days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 632.42 points, or 2.3%, to end its trading day at 27,500.89. The S&P 500 slid 2.8% to close at 3,331.84.
“The recent sell-off reflects an accumulation of investor worries centered on the performance of technology and growth stocks, which has reverberated through global equity markets,” Kerry Craig, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, wrote in a note.
“A market fuelled by central bank largesse, economic surprises and record earnings beats in the last few months was never going to maintain its heady pace forever,” Craig said, though he acknowledged that “broad pillars of support for the equity market remain intact.”
Tech mostly sees losses
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca said a late-stage trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate has been put on hold due to safety concerns. That came following a suspected serious adverse reaction in a participant in the United Kingdom, according to STAT News.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 93.51 following its rise earlier this week from levels below 93.0.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.92 per dollar after an earlier high of 105.82 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7219 after falling from levels above $0.726 yesterday.
Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.53% to $39.57 per barrel. U.S. crude futures were also 0.68% lower at $36.53 per barrel.
Source: CNBC