Asian stocks slump amid fears of global economic slowdown
Fears of a global economic slowdown took its toll on Asian markets overnight, as stocks slumped amid growing investor caution.
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Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index tumbled 3.1 per cent, as trading opened on Monday after a week of unrest across global markets.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also dipped 1.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite fell one per cent in afternoon trading.
A dovish decision from the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates and a swathe of downbeat US and European data last week knocked positive investor sentiment last week.
“Overnight, stocks in Asia sold-off heavily as concerns for the health of the global economy weighed on sentiment. Heavy losses were sustained in Japan and China,” according to David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
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Madden added: “US equity index futures are now in the red due to worldwide sell-off, but they opened higher on the session when the US attorney general, William Barr, said the Mueller investigation did not find sufficient evidence that Donald Trump colluded with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign.”
On Friday the FTSE 100 closed down two per cent as poor Eurozone economic data added to concerns.