Stocks in Asia Pacific tumbled on Monday as the U.S. Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark interest rate to zero and launched a massive quantitative easing program in an emergency move on Sunday.
Stocks
- The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia led losses among the region’s major markets as it dropped 9.7% to close at 5,002.
- Mainland Chinese stocks dropped on the day as well, with the Shanghai composite 3.4% lower at about 2,789.25 while the Shenzhen composite slipped 4.834% to approximately 1,712.02.
- The Shenzhen component plunged 5.34% to 10,253.28.
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also fell 4.38%, as of its final hour of trading.
- In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 2.46% lower at 17,002.04.
- The Topix index was also 2.01% lower to end its trading day at 1,236.34.
- South Korea’s Kospi slipped 3.19% to close at 1,714.86.
- Elsewhere, Singapore’s Straits Times index dropped 4.27% in afternoon trade while the Nifty 50 in India plunged 5.11%.
- The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index declined 4.99%.
Oil Prices
Oil prices dropped in the afternoon of Asian trading hours on Monday.
- International benchmark Brent crude futures down 5.97% to $31.83 per barrel.
- U.S. crude futures also slipped 4.19% to $30.40 per barrel.
Currencies
- The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 98.216 after rising from levels below 96 last week.
- The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6143 after slipping from levels above $0.64 last week.