Asia-Pacific markets plunged on Wednesday, led by Nikkei 225 and Taiwan’s Taiex after U.S. tech stocks sold off and weak U.S. economic data sparked recession fears.
The Nikkei 225 index plunged 1,638.70 points, or 4.2%, to 37,047.61.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index handed over 194.15 points, or 1.1%, to 17,457.34.
Semiconductor related stocks Renesas Electronics plunged 8.50%, Tokyo Electron lost 8.55%, while Advantest tumbled 7.74%.
Softbank Group, which owns chip designer Arm, fell 7.73%. Arm designs chips for Nvidia.
In Korea, chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix — both Nvidia suppliers — lost 3.31% and 8.02% respectively.
The Taiwan Weighted Index dropped 4.52%, leading losses in Asia and finishing at 21,092.75, with heavyweights Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company down 5.21% and Hon Hai Precision Industry — known internationally as Foxconn — falling 3.51%.
Australian markets also fell back, consistent with much of the region, mainly dragged by a weakness in oil prices.
The country’s second quarter GDP grew by 1% year-on-year, on par with expectations, and 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, slightly lower that the expected 0.3% expected among economists polled by Reuters.
CHINA
Chinese markets blundered to hit a new seven-month low.
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 slumped 21.27 points, or 0.7%, to 3,252.16
Chinese chip stocks also suffered some weakness despite these being unrelated to Nvidia’s supply chain, with state-linked Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation down 2.08% and Hua Hong Semiconductor falling 3.23%.
Separately, the Caixin services purchasing managers index for August showed that China’s service sector expanded at a slower rate compared to July, with the PMI falling to 51.6 from 52.1.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex index dumped 999.46 points, or 4.5%, to 21,092.75.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index moved backward 38.96 points, or 1.1%, to 3,441.38.
In Korea, the Kospi index dropped 83.83 points, or 3.2%, to 2,580.80.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 regained 18.85 points, or 0.2%, to 12,553.35, taking a contrary path.
In Australia, the ASX 200 fell 152.75 points, or 1.9%, to 7,950.48.
