Asian stocks are down on Monday after Wall Street’s negative signals on Friday.
Concerns about inflation have affected investor sentiment after US tariffs were imposed over the weekend.
Market declines coincide with fears that Federal Reserve could delay possible interest rate reductions.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Laavitt has confirmed that the Trump Administration’s tariffs against key trading partners have been implemented.
New measures include a tariff of 25% on products imported from Mexico, Canada, and China and a tariff of 10% on Chinese goods.
In addition, the administration warned that it could impose 100% tariffs against BRICS countries in order to decrease reliance on US dollars.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 crashes 2%
Nikkei index has fallen more than 2 percent to hover at just over 38,600.
The losses are widespread, impacting key sectors like automakers, technology shares, and index heavyweights.
After touching a record low of 38.454.38, the Nikkei closed at 38.612,96. This is a decline of 959.53 or 2.42%. The session ended Friday with a slight increase in Japanese stock prices.
SoftBank Group, which owns Uniqlo and Fast Retailing has lost more than 2% of its value. Honda has fallen by nearly 7% in the automotive industry, and Toyota is down almost 5%.
Hong Kong stocks drop as trading resumes
Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong have fallen as the markets return after a holiday for Lunar New Year. Investors react to the decision by President Trump to impose 10% tariffs on Chinese products.
Early trading saw the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index drop as much as 2,2%, in line with a regional economic downturn.
The Hang Seng Index fell to 19,949.69 in early trading, following an earlier fall of up to 2.3% when the market resumed after a 3-day break. Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.8%.
Bloomberg’s consensus estimates of 50.6 for the Caixin General Manufacturing Purchasing Management Index (PMI), however, showed that the PMI fell from 50.5 to 50.1, a drop in comparison with December.
Hong Kong’s stock exchange has been closed from midday January 28. The mainland Chinese market is set to resume on February 5th.
Regional markets
On Monday, the Australian stock exchange is down significantly after a streak of three consecutive sessions.
Mining and technology companies have led the broad losses in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index, which has dropped below 8,400.
This decline is a reflection of broader concerns around the world about inflationary pressures and trade uncertainties.
The KOSPI Index of South Korea fell below 2450, mainly due to the selling by institutional investors and foreigners.
The KOSPI Index was 2441.09 points, down by 76.87 or 3.05% compared to the previous day.
Institutions sold 428,6 billion won while foreign investors sold 522.8 billion won. Individual investors, however, were the sole group that purchased shares with an 889.3-billion won net purchase.
As new information becomes available, this post Asian stocks fall after Trump tariffs. Nikkei is down 2% and Kospi falls 3%.
