Nikkei plunge nears 9% as Japanese bank stocks plummet
Japan’s Nikkei share average tumbled nearly 9% early on Monday, while an index of Japanese bank stocks plunged as much as 17%, as concerns over a tariff-induced global recession continue to rip through markets.
The Nikkei dropped as much as 8.8% to hit 30,792.74 for the first time since October 2023. The index was trading down 7.3% at 31,318.79, as of 0034 GMT, Reuters reports.
All 225 component stocks of the index were trading in the red.
The broader Topix sank 8% to 2,284.69.
A topix index of banking shares slumped as much as 17.3%, and was last down 13.2%.
The bank index has borne the brunt of the sell-off in Japanese equities, plunging as much as 30% over the past three sessions.
Key events
South Korea’s finance minister has said the government will prepare support measures for sectors with urgent needs, ahead of Donald Trump’s 25% tariff coming into force this week.
Choi Sang-mok “emphasised the need to analyse the impact on the macroeconomy and prepare support measures for sectors with urgent needs”, the ministry said in a statement on Monday .
On 2 April, Trump introduced a blanket tariff on imports to the US and higher
tariffs against “worst offenders”, including a 25% duty on imports from South Korea, set to come into force on Wednesday.
Reuters also reports that South Korea’s exports to the US hit a record high of $127.8bn in 2024, with automobiles – the top-selling product – accounting for 27% of the total.
On Monday, Choi and other policymakers also reviewed a response strategy ahead of the trade minister, Cheong In-kyo, visiting the US, the finance ministry said.
Separately, South Korea’s financial regulator asked firms and state institutions on Monday to be prepared to provide liquidity support for exporting companies and their contractors hit by tariffs.
In Australia, more than $160bn has been wiped off the Australian share market this morning as fears of a full-blown trade war grip investors, reports Jonathan Barrett.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 sank more than 6% to trade below the 7200-point mark within 15 minutes after the market opened on Monday.
The Australian dollar, meanwhile, fell to its lowest level since Covid against the US dollar as global markets sell off against the prospects of a global recession.
One Australian dollar was buying just 60 US cents on Monday morning after falling to a low of 59.64, its lowest point since April 2020, reports Luca Ittimani. It was worth 64 US cents on Wednesday, hours before Donald Trump set markets reeling with his tariff announcement.
The Australian dollar also reached pandemic-era lows in Europe, with one dollar buying just 54.4 Euro cents or 46.2 British pence at its lowest point on Monday morning.
Donald Trump says foreign governments will have to pay “a lot of money” to lift the sweeping tariffs he has characterised as “medicine” and which have routed Asian share markets. Those are among the top lines are in our latest full report on the turmoil.
The Nikkei dropped as much as 8.8% to hit 30,792.74 for the first time since October 2023.
In South Korea, trading on the Kospi index was halted for five minutes at 9.12am as stocks plummeted.
The Taiwan stock exchange said early on Monday it would roll out more policies to stabilise markets if there were “irrational falls”.
See the full report here:
Hong Kong and Chinese stocks dive
Hong Kong stocks have plummeted more than 9% at open, while Singapore stocks dropped over 7%, according to reports.
Hong Kong and Chinese stocks dived on Monday as markets around the world crumbled in the face of the widening global trade war and fears it will unleash a deep recession, Reuters says.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 8% in early trade. Shares in online giants Alibaba and Tencent were down more than 8%.
China’s CSI300 blue-chip index fell 4.5%.
China, which is now facing US tariffs of more than 50%, responded in kind on Friday by slapping extra levies on US imports.
Taiwan stocks plummeted almost 10% on Monday in their first trading since Donald Trump announced his new tariffs regime last week, with the head of the island’s stock exchange saying it would roll out more stabilisation policies if needed.
After opening on Monday following a two-day market holiday on Thursday and Friday, Taiwan’s benchmark index dropped to its lowest level in more than a year, Reuters reports.
Taiwan’s top financial regulator on Sunday announced it would impose temporary curbs lasting all this week on short-selling of shares to help deal with potential market turmoil from the tariffs.
Shares in chipmaker TSMC and electronics maker Foxconn both fell near 10%, triggering the 10% circuit breaker in the Taiwan market.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the market opened, Taiwan stock exchange chairman Sherman Lin said it would coordinate with the financial regulator to take further stabilisation steps if needed.
The stock exchange would maintain flexibility in stabilisation measures this week to handle volatility stemming from new U.S. import tariffs, Lin added.
He said it would be hard for Taiwan to escape the market impact of the tariffs, but called on investors to have confidence in Taiwanese companies and the government.
US Treasury yields fell on Monday and the two-year yield sank to a multi-year low as worries of a possible recession in the world’s largest economy grew and investors wagered that could see US rates cut as early as May.
The two-year US Treasury yield, which typically reflects near-term rate expectations, tumbled more than 20 basis points to its lowest level since September 2022 at 3.4350%, as investors ramped up bets of more aggressive Federal Reserve easing this year, Reuters reports.
The benchmark 10-year yield last stood at 3.9158%, languishing near Friday’s six-month low of 3.8600%.
Futures now point to nearly 120 basis points’ worth of Fed cuts by December and markets swung to imply a roughly 60% chance the US central bank could ease rates in May, as policymakers seek to shore up growth in the world’s largest economy on the back of President Donald Trump’s latest tariff salvo.
JPMorgan ratcheted up its odds for a U.S. and global recession to 60%, as mentioned, and brokerages elsewhere similarly raised their probability of a US recession as tariff distress threatens to sap business confidence and slow global growth.
Nikkei plunge nears 9% as Japanese bank stocks plummet
Japan’s Nikkei share average tumbled nearly 9% early on Monday, while an index of Japanese bank stocks plunged as much as 17%, as concerns over a tariff-induced global recession continue to rip through markets.
The Nikkei dropped as much as 8.8% to hit 30,792.74 for the first time since October 2023. The index was trading down 7.3% at 31,318.79, as of 0034 GMT, Reuters reports.
All 225 component stocks of the index were trading in the red.
The broader Topix sank 8% to 2,284.69.
A topix index of banking shares slumped as much as 17.3%, and was last down 13.2%.
The bank index has borne the brunt of the sell-off in Japanese equities, plunging as much as 30% over the past three sessions.
Nikkei plummets nearly 8%
The Nikkei 225 has now dived nearly 8% after the Wall Street meltdown over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Japan’s benchmark stock index sank 7.8% to lows last seen in late 2023. South Korea lost 4.6%.
As reported earlier, Trump said on the falling markets that “medicine” could be necessary at times, and he was not intentionally engineering a market selloff.
“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” the US president told reporters aboard Air Force One.
The market carnage came as White House officials showed no sign of backing away from their sweeping tariff plans, Reuters reports, and China declared the markets had spoken on their retaliation through levies on US goods.
Trump said he would not do a deal with China until the US trade deficit was sorted out.
Almost $5tn was wiped off the value of global stock markets last week after Donald Trump launched his tariff offensive last Wednesday.
The US market was particularly hard hit. The benchmark S&P 500 lodged its biggest weekly drop since March 2020 and the Nasdaq Composite on Friday ended down more than 20% from its December record high, confirming the tech-heavy index is in a bear market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the week down well over 10% from its December record high, marking a correction for the blue-chip index.
Oil prices fell more than 3% on Monday – extending losses from the previous week – on growing concerns that a global trade war could slow the global economy and weaken oil demand.
Brent futures declined $2.1, or 3.2%, to $63.48 a barrel at 1027 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost $2.14, or 3.5%, to $59.85, Reuters reports.
Both benchmarks plunged 7% on Friday to settle at their lowest in over three years as China ramped up tariffs on US goods in retaliation at Donald Trump’s tariffs, escalating a trade war that has led investors to price in a higher probability of recession.
Responding to Trump’s tariffs, China on Friday said it would impose additional levies of 34% on American goods, confirming investor fears that a full-blown global trade war is under way.
Investment bank JPMorgan said it now saw a 60% chance of a global economic recession by year-end, up from 40% previously.
Nikkei drops over 7%
Japan’s Nikkei index has plunged more than 7%, Agence France-Presse is reporting, after having it down 5% and, a little earlier, 3.6% following its opening today.
The fall extends last week’s 9% drop – its steepest one-week percentage decline since March 2020.
You have to ‘take medicine’ sometimes – Trump
Donald Trump has said about falling markets that “medicine” can be necessary at times, adding that he was not intentionally engineering a market selloff.
“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” the US president told reporters aboard Air Force One on the economic fallout from his sweeping tariffs.
Welcome
Hello and welcome to our business blog covering the global fallout to the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump last week.
The US president’s decision to bring in levies of up to 50% on imports into the US rocked stock markets. As a new week dawns, traders, investors and consumers across the world are braced for further falls.
Stay with us to follow all the developments.
