Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped over 12% on Monday to stamp a bear market for Japanese stocks. The Nikkei suffered its worst rout since 1987’s Black Monday crash as Asia-Pacific markets continued the sell-off from last week.
The Nikkei and Topix indexes have fallen more than 20% from their all-time highs on July 11. The Nikkei has erased all its gains so far this year, moving into a loss position year to date. The loss of 4,451.28 points on the index was also the largest in terms of points in its entire history.
Heavyweight trading houses such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Co, Sumitomo, and Marubeni all plunged over 14%, with Mitsui losing almost 20% of its market cap.
Last Friday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Topix fell more than 5% and 6%, respectively. The broader Topix marked its worst day in eight years, while the Nikkei marked its worst day since March 2020.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 8.77%, closing at 2,441.55, and the small-cap Kodaq saw a 11.3% wipeout, ending at 691.28.
Due to the magnitude of the sell-off, South Korean exchanges halted trade for the Kospi index at 2.14 p.m. Seoul and at 1.56 p.m. for the Kosdaq. The halt was for 20 minutes. Circuit breakers are activated if stocks rise or fall 8%.
Taiwan’s benchmark index, the Taiwan Weighted Index, was down over 8%, dragged by tech and real estate stocks, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 3.7% to 7,649.6.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index was down 1.62% as of its final hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 1.21% to 3,343.32, seeing the smallest loss in Asia.
