Australia, Hong Kong and Korea stocks fall 2%
An employee works at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 13, 2022.
Toru Hanai | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Shares in the Asia-Pacific fell sharply on Thursday as investors digest the results of a private survey on China’s factory activity.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 2.02% to close at 6,845.60, while the Australian dollar weakened to $0.6827.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.53% to 27,661.47, and the Topix index dropped 1.41% to 1,935.49. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 1.74% lower in the final hour of trade, and the Hang Seng Tech index also fell 1.64%.
The Kospi in South Korea shed 2.28% to close at 2,415.61 and the Kosdaq lost 2.32% to 788.32.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite struggled for direction and closed 0.54% lower at 3,184.98, while the Shenzhen Component was down 0.88% at 11,712.39.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 1.76%.
China’s Caixin/Markit manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index for August released Thursday showed the sector slipping into contraction this month.
This comes after official manufacturing PMI data released on Wednesday showed that factory activity shrank amid a recent rise in Covid infections, and the nation facing the worst heatwaves in decades.
Overnight in the U.S., major stock indexes rose earlier in the session, but closed lower for a fourth straight day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 280.44 points, or nearly 0.9%, to 31,510.43. The S&P 500 slipped roughly 0.8% to end the day at 3,955, and the Nasdaq Composite declined about 0.6% to 11,816.20.