Market Update
Shares in Asia headed sank again early Tuesday, tracking heavy losses on Wall Street Monday, as investors shunned equities and other risk assets following the U.S. downgrade over the weekend.
At the time of writing, Japan's Nikkei opened 2% lower but fell further to log a drop of 3.5% while Australia's All Ordinaries pared opening losses to trade lower by 2.1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng plummeted 6% while mainland China's Shanghai Composite was off 1.1%. The Sensex was down 1.8%
Asian equities climbed lower again along with most commodities, after witnessing a mammoth fall a day earlier, as investors continued to dump risk assets in favor of perceived safe havens such as treasuries and gold.
Oil prices slumped below the $80 a barrel mark while gold traded near $1,730, a fresh record.
Stocks on the Move
Technology stocks in Japan were the worst hit after the Nasdaq index lost about 7% in a single day of trade Monday.
Elpida Memory tumbled over 10% while Advantest was off 5.6%. Sony, Canon and Panasonic declined 3.4% to 4.4% while automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan dropped about 4.5% each.
Japan's major banks were sharply lower with Mitsubishi UJF Financial down 4% and Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho down 3.2% and 3.4% each, respectively.
Exporters Sony and Panasonic were down over 3% each while among the auto-makers, Nissan and Toyota were about 4% lower.
Chinese shares edged lower, with Hong Kong stocks selling off heavily led by heavyweights. In commodity plays, Aluminum Corporation of China fell 10% while CNOOC plunged 10.5%.
In a carnage triggering memories of 2008, the Indian 30-share benchmark index fell over 500 points in opening trade. Technology stocks were the worst affected with Wipro and TCS the top losers, down over 5% each. Infosys was down 3.5%.
Other losers included Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Hindalco, DLF Jindal Steel and Cipla, all down in a range between 3.4% and 4.5%.
ONGC remianed the only winner, trading marginally higher.
In Sydney, resource plays witnessed a major sell-off, thanks to declining commodity prices and the general uncertainty over the global economic outlook.
Fortescue Metals erased 8.4%. Miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto edged 4.6% and 6.7% lower, respectively.
Crude prices hit a low of $75.71 a barrel this morning, impacting energy stocks with Woodside Petroleum slipping 1.1%. Santos and Oil Search lost 3% and 4% each, respectively.
The major banks, CBA, NAB, Westpac and ANZ were all down over 1.5% each.
(Rouhan Sharma contributed to this article)