Asian stock markets on Friday followed Wall Street lower on fears that global economic activity would be depressed by interest rate hikes to cool inflation.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index tumbled 3.3 percent on Thursday after the UK’s central bank followed the US Federal Reserve in raising its key interest rate to cool surging prices.
Investors worry the moves to control inflation that is running at four-decade highs might tip the US and other major economies into recession.
“Pain is being inflicted almost everywhere and sharing doesn’t make it better in any way,” Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank said in a report.
Markets were not assuaged by comments by US President Joe Biden to the Associated Press on Thursday that he saw reasons for optimism about the economy.
A recession is “not inevitable,” Biden said.
In Taiwan, the TAIEX closed 1.25 percent lower at 15,641.26. The day’s low of 15,573.38 was its lowest intraday level since May 17 last year, when it hit 15,159.86.
The index fell more than 1 percent in the first minute of trading following a 2.42 percent plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a 6.24 percent fall in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index overnight, and never recovered.
However, turnover was up compared with recent sessions at NT$307.877 billion (US$10.36 billion), after staying between NT$190 billion and NT$230 billion for much of the month.
For the week, the TAIEX lost 818 points, or 4.97 percent. It had closed lower for seven consecutive sessions.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.77 percent to 25,963.00, down 6.69 percent on the week, while the broader TOPIX lost 1.71 percent to 1,835.90, declining 5.52 percent from a week earlier.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.96 percent to 3,316.79, up 0.97 percent weekly, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.1 percent to 21,075.00, but dropped 3.35 percent from a week earlier.
In Seoul, the KOSPI retreated 0.43 percent to 2,440.93 and lost 5.97 percent weekly, while Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.76 percent to 6,474.8, posting a weekly drop of 6.6 percent.
India’s SENSEX closed 0.26 lower at 51,360.42, declining 5.42 percent from a week earlier.
Additional reporting by CNA, with staff writer
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