SINGAPORE – Shares in Asia-Pacific fell during Tuesday morning trade after heavy losses overnight on Wall Street that saw the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropping more than 4%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, returning to trade following a Monday holiday, fell 3% in early trade on Tuesday morning.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese tech firms dropped, with Tencent declining 3.55% while Alibaba shed 6% and NetEase fell 3.54%. The Hang Seng Tech index traded 5.11% lower.
Technology shares elsewhere in Asia-Pacific also declined in Tuesday morning trade, largely mirroring losses after the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.29% overnight to 11,623.25.
On Tuesday morning, shares of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group fell 4.61%. South Korea’s Cocoa shed 2% while Krafton fell 2.98%.
In the broader markets, the Shanghai Composite in mainland China fell more than 1% while the Shenzhen Component dipped 1.661%.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 1.86% as shares of Fast Retailing dropped more than 2%. The Topix index traded 1.74% lower.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.85% while the S & P / ASX 200 in Australia fell 2.27%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 2.22% lower.
“A sea of red engulfed most major risk assets overnight,” analysts at OCBC Treasury Research said in a Tuesday note. “Asian markets may start off on a cautious note today, following the battering on Wall Street last night.”
Other major indexes on Wall Street also saw substantial losses overnight, with the S&P 500 slipping 3.2% to 3,991.24 – falling below the 4,000 level for the first time in more than a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 653.67 points, or 1.99%, to 32,245.70.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 103,663 – off levels above 103.8 seen recently.
The Japanese yen traded at 130.18 per dollar, stronger than levels above 130.5 seen against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar was at $ 0.6921, struggling to recover after last week’s drop from above $ 0.72.
Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures slipping 2.21% to $ 103.58 per barrel. US crude futures shed 2.2% to $ 100.8 per barrel.