Stock markets in Asia have dropped sharply during trading on Monday amid fears the US economy may be heading for a recession.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 share index fell by as much as 13% – a drop not seen since 2011 – while the market’s broader TOPIX index also fell more than 10%.
Stock markets in South Korea and Taiwan were both down more than 8% on Monday, while India’s Nifty 50 fell more than 2%.
Markets in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines were also down between around 2% and 3%.
The falls prompted the triggering of circuit breakers by some exchanges – in which trading of stocks and derivatives is halted for 20 minutes.
It comes after US jobs market data on Friday came in much lower than expected for July.
Some 114,000 jobs were created during the month – significantly lower than the 175,000 new roles forecast by Wall Street.
The figure was the weakest since December last year and the second weakest since the start of the COVID pandemic in the West in March 2020.
Robert Carnell, from financial services firm ING, said: “What we are looking at now is a situation where the market is viewing what’s going on in the US macro economy as ticking the recession box.”
It comes after the US Federal Reserve decided on Wednesday not to cut interest rates from the 5.25% to 5.5% range which they have been at since July last year. Markets now expect the central bank to make a cut in September.
Concerns globally have also been heightened by worries over the strength of China’s economy and several weak earnings reports from major technology firms last week, as investors grow jittery over potential returns from investment in AI.
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