Beijing, March 10 (BNA): Asian stock markets followed a plunge on Wall Street on Friday ahead of the US jobs update amid fears of rising interest rates.
Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney fell. Oil prices are down, the Associated Press reports today.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 fell Thursday by the largest margin in a single day this year after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that rates could rise faster than expected to calm stubbornly high inflation.
Traders are eyeing Friday’s US government employment data after other indications that the labor market remained strong despite repeated rate hikes.
The Shanghai Composite fell 1% to 3242.27 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.7% to 28143.97. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.4% to 19,445.27.
The Kospi Index in Seoul lost 1% to 2,395.41 and the S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney lost 2.3%, to 7,144.70.
India’s Sensex opened 1.2% lower, at 59,121.10. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets fell.
In energy markets, US benchmark crude lost 52 cents to $75.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract fell 94 cents in the previous session to $75.72. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trade, fell 36 cents to $81.23 a barrel in London. It sank $1.07 in the previous session to $81.59.
The dollar rose to 136.69 yen from 136.17 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0588 from $1.0578.
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