Shares of Alibaba in Hong Kong fell to record lows in Thursday afternoon trade, plunging more than 5%.
Other Hong Kong-listed Chinese tech giants also saw losses, with Tencent slipping 1.97% while Meituan dropped 6.97%. The Hang Seng Tech index slipped 2.27%.
Hong Kong’s broader Hang Seng index fell 1.95% in afternoon trade. Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed, with the Shanghai composite slipping 0.38% while the Shenzhen component advanced 0.435%.
The Taiex in Taiwan led losses among the region’s major markets on Thursday, falling 2.68% to 16,375.40.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.69%.
· Nikkei drops to 7-month low on Toyota output shock
Japan’s Nikkei share average fell more than 1% on Thursday to its lowest since early January after Toyota Motor shares tumbled on news that it will slash its output by 40% next month due to a chip shortage.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined 1.1% to close at 27,281.17 while the Topix index shed 1.39% to 1,897.19.
Shares of Japanese automaker Toyota dropped 4.42% after the Nikkei reported the firm will slash its global production for September by 40% from what was previously planned. Other Japanese automaker stocks also declined: Nissan fell 2.63% while Honda shed 2.73% and Mitsubishi Motors declined 2.38%.
South Korea’s Kospi dipped 1.88%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.5% lower at 7,464.60. Australia’s unemployment rate declined to 4.6% in July, against June’s reading of 4.9%, according to seasonally adjusted estimates released Thursday by the country’s Bureau of Statistics.
· Australia mining stocks drop
Shares of miners in Australia fell sharply in Thursday trade following an overnight decline in iron ore prices. Rio Tinto shares dropped 5.73% while Fortescue Metals Group declined 6.15%, and BHP plunged 6.35%.
· European shares fall 1% on taper fears; commodities slump hits miners
By 0706 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.5% at a two-week low, with mining stocks slumping 4.2%.
The travel and leisure index declined 2.4% amid a surge in cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
· Stock futures are lower after a market sell-off amid Fed’s taper discussion
Stock futures were lower in early morning trading on Thursday after Wall Street suffered a sell-off as meeting minutes showed the Federal Reserve started eyeing tapering before the year-end.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 170 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were both in negative territory.
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