Major indexes in Australia, Japan and South Korea decline as investors turn cautious
Asia-Pacific markets fell Friday as investor sentiment turned cautious on the back of fresh worries around inflation expectations.
Australian shares tumbled after market open, with the benchmark ASX 200 down 0.58% — the index retraced some of its earlier losses of more than 1%. Most sectors fell: Energy and materials sectors were down 2.32% and 1.07%, respective, while the heavily-weighted financials subindex lost around 0.1%.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined 0.6% while the Topix index was down 0.32%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.84% and the Kosdaq was down 0.62% as tech names sold off. Shares of Samsung Electronics fell 0.84%, SK Hynix declined 2.11% and LG Electronics lost 1.29%.
The stock market on Wall Street struggled overnight, where tech shares were hit hard while the Dow and S&P 500 also declined. That weakness in shares was mirrored by an uptick in bond yields.
Yields move in the opposite direction to prices. Rising bond yields typically signal confidence about economic recovery and fears about inflation, which can make high growth stocks appear less attractive to investors.
Reference: CNBC
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