Asian Markets Drop 2% on U.S. Jobs Report

Nigel Thomas
05 Sep, 2011
New York City

Asian markets slid following the weak U.S. employment report. The market index in Korea led the region with a loss of 4% and the index in Hong Kong fell 3%. The indexes in Shanghai, Australia and Taiwan dropped more than 2% and in India declined 0.6%.

[R]11:00 AM New York – Asian markets slid following the weak U.S. employment report. The market index in Korea led the region with a loss of 4% and the index in Hong Kong fell 3%. The indexes in Shanghai, Australia and Taiwan dropped more than 2% and in India declined 0.6%.[/R]

World markets were on the slide on the first day of the week. Markets in Asia declined as investors had the first opportunity to react to weak employment report in the U.S. and European markets declined on the ongoing euro zone worries.

The U.S. added virtually no new jobs in August and private sector added only 17,000 new jobs. Hourly earnings and hours worked in the month also declined according to the latest data released by the Labor Department.

Markets in Asia plunged more than 2% after the U.S. added no new jobs in August. Economists were anticipating at least an addition of 60,000 jobs in the month. The weak employment picture worried investors and export sensitive companies in Hong Kong and in Tokyo fell sharply.

The benchmark index in Korea led the region with a loss of 4.4% and the indexes in Australia declined 2.4% and in Tokyo fell 1.9%. The market indexes in Hong Kong fell nearly 3% and in Shanghai and Singapore declined more than 2%. The index in Mumbai eased 0.6%.

The Australian dollar edged lower to $1.056 from $1.065 and the Japanese yen hovered near its 25-year high of 77.77 yen against a dollar.

Export sensitive stocks were among the leading decliners in Tokyo trading. Sony Corp fell 4% to 1,560 yen and Panasonic Corp declined 3% to 786 yen and Nikon Corp eased 2.7% to 1,653 yen. Canon Inc decreased 2.5% to 3,505 yen.

Markets were in the freefall in the early trading in Asia but stabilized in the late afternoon as investors focused on the domestic economies.