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, -0.15% 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, -3.60% is now down 20% for 2018.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng HSI, -3.68% 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, -6.78% , AAC Technologies 2018, -6.43% and Tencent 0700, -6.91% falling more than 5%. Automaker Geely 0175, -5.38% , casino operator Galaxy Entertainment 0027, -5.23% and oil company CNOOC 0883, -6.06% also plunged.
Taiwan stocks fared even worse, with the Taiex Y9999, -5.71% 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, -6.61% 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, -3.02% is set to log its first nine-day losing streak since July 2011. Korea’s Kospi SEU, -3.16% was off 2.8%, with Samsung 005930, -3.42% down more than 2%. Singapore’s stock benchmark STI, -2.67% skidded to 20-month lows while Malaysia’s benchmark FBMKLCI, -2.65% hit three-month lows
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