Pedestrians
cross
an
intersection
in
the
Shibuya
district
of
Tokyo,
Japan,
on
Tuesday,
Feb.
6,
2024.
Bloomberg
|
Bloomberg
|
Getty
Images
Asia-Pacific
markets
continued
the
sell-off
from
last
week,
while
investors
awaited
key
trade
data
from
China
and
Taiwan
this
week,
as
well
as
central
bank
decisions
from
Australia
and
India.
Japan’s
markets
led
losses
in
the
region
as
the
Nikkei
225
and
Topix
dropped
as
much
as
7%
in
volatile
trading.
Heavyweight
trading
houses
such
as
Mitsubishi,
Mitsui
and
Co,
Sumitomo
and
Marubeni
all
plunged
around
10%.
At
these
levels,
both
the
Nikkei
and
Topix
are
nearing
bear
market
territory,
having
fallen
almost
20%
from
their
all-time
highs
on
July
11.
Monday’s
decline
follows
Friday’s
rout
when
Japan’s
Nikkei
225
and
Topix
fell
more
than
5%
and
6%,
respectively.
The
broader
Topix
marked
its
worst
day
in
eight
years,
while
the
Nikkei
marked
its
worst
day
since
March
2020.
In
early
Monday
trading,
the
yen
also
strengthened
to
its
highest
level
against
the
dollar
since
January,
and
was
last
trading
at
144.97.
China’s
service
sector
expanded
at
a
faster
pace
in
July,
with
the
country’s
purchasing
managers’
index
climbing
to
52.1
in
July,
up
from
51.2
in
June.
The
Caixin
survey
said
the
acceleration
of
growth
was
due
to
faster
new
business
growth,
“supported
by
sustained
improvements
in
underlying
demand
conditions
and
an
expansion
of
services
offerings.”
Taiwan’s
benchmark
index,
Taiex,
was
down
almost
8%,
while
Australia’s S&P/ASX
200
fell
2.84%.
The
Reserve
Bank
of
Australia
kicks
off
its
two-day
monetary
policy
meeting
Monday.
Economists
polled
by
Reuters
expect
the
central
bank
to
hold
rates
steady
at
4.35%,
but
markets
will
monitor
the
monetary
policy
statement
for
clarity
on
whether
the
RBA
is
still
considering
a
rate
hike.
South
Korea’s
Kospi
was
down
4.38%,
while
the
Kosdaq
fell
4.63%.
Hong
Kong
Hang
Seng
index
saw
the
smallest
loss
in
Asia,
inching
down
0.22%,
while
mainland
China’s
CSI
300
was
marginally
up,
the
only
major
index
in
positive
territory.
On
Friday
in
the
U.S.,
stocks
fell
sharply
as
a
much weaker-than-anticipated
jobs
report for
July
ignited
worries
that
the
economy
could
be
falling
into
a
recession.
The
Nasdaq
was
the
first
of
the
three
major
benchmarks
to
enter
correction
territory,
down
more
than
10%
from
its
record
high.
The
S&P
500
and
Dow
were
5.7%
and
3.9%
below
their
all-time
highs,
respectively.
The
S&P
500
dropped
1.84%,
while
the Nasdaq
Composite lost
2.43%.
The Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average fell
610.71
points,
or
1.51%.
—CNBC’s
Pia
Singh
and
Hakyung
Kim
contributed
to
this
report.
