Asian stock markets sank in early trade on Friday after Wall Street tumbled to six-year lows as gloomy US unemployment data reinforced fears the world's largest economy is in a severe slump.
With Japan in its worst recession in decades, the once booming Chinese economy slowing sharply and the rest of the region suffering from slumping exports to stricken Western economies, investors were in no mood to buy.
Tokyo dropped 1.35 per cent, Hong Kong slid 2.2 per cent, Sydney slipped 1.5 per cent and Seoul lost 1.4.
"With economic worries mounting again, investors are moving to reduce their risky assets," said SMBC Friend Securities strategist Hideaki Higashi.
Investors took their cue from New York, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.19 per cent on Thursday, closing at the lowest level since October 9, 2002.
The market was spooked by a raft of data underscoring the deepening US recession.
The gloomiest report showed continuing claims for unemployment benefits rising by 170,000 to 4.987 million for the week ending February 7.
The figures pointed to "another substantial contraction" in the US economy in the first quarter of 2009 as half a million jobs are lost each month, said Rabobank International analyst Jan Lambregts in Hong Kong.
Worries about Asia's economic woes have deepened in a week when Japan reported its worst economic contraction since 1974 and Chinese President Hu Jintao warned his country's crisis was worsening.
The Japanese central bank announced Thursday plans to spend more than 10 billion dollars (7.9 billion euros) buying corporate bonds to tackle a credit crunch and painted a sombre picture of the world's second-largest economy.
In the United States, investors remained unconvinced by the 787-billion-dollar economic stimulus bill signed into law earlier this week by US President Barack Obama, analysts noted.
"No one's feeling very positive before the weekend," BBY senior trader Peter Copeland told Dow Jones Newswires. "There still doesn't seem to be much evidence the dominos have stopped falling."
Japan's Nikkei is now down 15.8 per cent in 2009 while Hong Kong has lost 11.6 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 14.9 per cent.
Financial stocks were under pressure in Asia following a weak performance by their US peers.
National Australia Bank lost 2.3 per cent in Sydney, Shinhan Financial shed 3.3 per cent in Seoul and Mizuho Financial declined 2.6 per cent in Tokyo.
"US banks dropped to multi-year lows on rising concerns that nationalisation is the only way to restore their solvency," noted Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets in Hong Kong.
With Japan in its worst recession in decades, the once booming Chinese economy slowing sharply and the rest of the region suffering from slumping exports to stricken Western economies, investors were in no mood to buy.
Tokyo dropped 1.35 per cent, Hong Kong slid 2.2 per cent, Sydney slipped 1.5 per cent and Seoul lost 1.4.
"With economic worries mounting again, investors are moving to reduce their risky assets," said SMBC Friend Securities strategist Hideaki Higashi.
Investors took their cue from New York, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.19 per cent on Thursday, closing at the lowest level since October 9, 2002.
The market was spooked by a raft of data underscoring the deepening US recession.
The gloomiest report showed continuing claims for unemployment benefits rising by 170,000 to 4.987 million for the week ending February 7.
The figures pointed to "another substantial contraction" in the US economy in the first quarter of 2009 as half a million jobs are lost each month, said Rabobank International analyst Jan Lambregts in Hong Kong.
Worries about Asia's economic woes have deepened in a week when Japan reported its worst economic contraction since 1974 and Chinese President Hu Jintao warned his country's crisis was worsening.
The Japanese central bank announced Thursday plans to spend more than 10 billion dollars (7.9 billion euros) buying corporate bonds to tackle a credit crunch and painted a sombre picture of the world's second-largest economy.
In the United States, investors remained unconvinced by the 787-billion-dollar economic stimulus bill signed into law earlier this week by US President Barack Obama, analysts noted.
"No one's feeling very positive before the weekend," BBY senior trader Peter Copeland told Dow Jones Newswires. "There still doesn't seem to be much evidence the dominos have stopped falling."
Japan's Nikkei is now down 15.8 per cent in 2009 while Hong Kong has lost 11.6 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 14.9 per cent.
Financial stocks were under pressure in Asia following a weak performance by their US peers.
National Australia Bank lost 2.3 per cent in Sydney, Shinhan Financial shed 3.3 per cent in Seoul and Mizuho Financial declined 2.6 per cent in Tokyo.
"US banks dropped to multi-year lows on rising concerns that nationalisation is the only way to restore their solvency," noted Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets in Hong Kong.
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