Nikkei sell-off, Australian Federal Reserve meeting, China PMI, India PMI | Wilnesh News

Asia-Pacific markets continued last week’s sell-off, while investors awaited important trade data from China and Taiwan this week, as well as decisions from the central banks of Australia and India.

Japanese stocks led the region’s losses, with the Nikkei 225 and Topix down more than 7 points%. Heavyweight trading companies such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Sumitomo and Marubeni Both plummeted by about 10%.

At these levels, both the Nikkei and Topix are approaching bear market territory, down nearly 20% from their July 11 all-time highs.

Monday’s decline follows Friday’s plunge, with Japanese stocks Nikkei 225 Index The Topix and Topix fell more than 5% and 6% respectively. The Topix had its worst day in eight years, while the Nikkei had its worst day since March 2020.

In Monday’s trading, JPY It also rose to its highest level since January against the U.S. dollar, last trading at 143.81.

The expansion of China’s service industry accelerated in July, with the purchasing managers’ index rising to 52.1 from 51.2 in June.

Caixin Survey It said the acceleration in growth was due to faster new business growth, “supported by continued improvements in underlying demand conditions and an expansion of service offerings.”

Taiwan Benchmark Index Taiwan Weighted Indexfell nearly 8%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 3.05%.

The Reserve Bank of Australia begins a two-day monetary policy meeting on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to hold interest rates steady at 4.35%, but markets will closely watch the monetary policy statement for clarity on whether the central bank is still considering raising rates.

Korean Cospi The KOSDAQ index fell 6.66%, and the KOSDAQ index fell 6.78%.

Hongkong Hang Seng Index Asia was the smallest loser, down 0.22%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 0.24%, the only major index to post a gain.

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday after a much weaker-than-expected July jobs report stoked worries that the economy could slip into recession.

The Nasdaq index was the first of the three major benchmark indexes to enter the correction range, falling more than 10% from its historical high. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones are respectively 5.7% and 3.9% below their all-time highs.

this S&P 500 Index The Nasdaq fell 2.43%, down 1.84%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 610.71 points, or 1.51%.

—CNBC’s Pia Singh and Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.