London (AFP) – Stock markets and oil prices collapsed further on a black Monday for markets as US President Donald Trump stood firm over his tariffs despite recession fears. Trading floors across Asia and Europe were overcome by waves of further selling after last week’s sharp losses. Hong Kong’s drop of 13.2 percent Monday was its worst in nearly three decades. Trillions of dollars have been wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions. Taipei stocks suffered their worst fall on record Monday, tanking 9.7 percent, while Frankfurt dived as much as 10 percent and Tokyo closed down by almost eight percent. Hong Kong’s loss was exaggerated as the index had been closed Friday for a public holiday. Wall Street futures suffered another drubbing, while bitcoin tumbled. The dollar was steadier after sharp losses last week.
“The carnage in global equity markets has continued,” noted Thomas Mathews, Asia Pacific head of markets at Capital Economics. He said Trump could still pare back his tariffs. “But, if he doesn’t, equities could get a lot sicker yet.” A 10-percent “baseline” tariff on imports from around the world took effect Saturday. However, a slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from Wednesday, with levies of 34 percent for Chinese goods and 20 percent for EU products. Countries mostly have been scrambling to blunt the new US tariffs without retaliating, but Beijing is responding in kind, escalating the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. Beijing announced last week its own 34-percent tariff on US goods, which will come into effect on Thursday.
Hopes that the US president would rethink his policy in light of the turmoil were dashed Sunday when he said he would not make a deal with other countries unless trade deficits were solved. “Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said of the ructions that have wiped trillions of dollars off company valuations. Wall Street’s three main indices dived almost six percent Friday.
– No sector spared –
Monday’s savage selling was across the board, with no sector spared. Tech firms, carmakers, banks, casinos, and energy firms all felt the pain as investors abandoned riskier assets. Among the biggest losers, Chinese ecommerce titans Alibaba tanked 18 percent and rival JD.com shed 15.5 percent, while Japanese tech investment giant SoftBank dived more than 12 percent and Sony gave up 10 percent. Hong Kong’s 13-percent drop marked its worst day since 1997 during the Asian financial crisis. Shanghai shed more than seven percent, with China’s state-backed fund Central Huijin Investment vowing to help ensure “stable operations” of the market.
Singapore plunged nearly eight percent, while Seoul gave up more than five percent, triggering a so-called sidecar mechanism — for the first time in eight months — that briefly halted some trading. Sydney, Wellington, Manila, and Mumbai were also deep in the red, while London and Paris both dropped nearly four percent in midday deals. Milan and Madrid each shed more than four percent, with all sectors also affected across Europe. Concerns about future energy demand saw oil prices sink about three percent, having dropped some seven percent Friday. Both main contracts are now sitting at their lowest levels since 2021. The Kremlin said it was monitoring the plummeting price of oil — on which Russia’s economy is highly dependent.
– Key figures around 1045 GMT –
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 3.4 percent at 7,779.08 points
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 3.9 percent at 6,987.91
Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 3.7 percent at 19,881.07
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 7.8 percent at 31,136.58 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 13.2 percent at 19,828.30 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 7.3 percent at 3,096.58 (close)
New York – Dow: DOWN 5.5 percent at 38,314.86 (close)
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.7 percent at $60.27 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.6 percent at $63.85 per barrel
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0972 from $1.0962 on Friday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2849 from $1.2893
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 146.45 yen from 146.98 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 85.37 pence from 85.01 pence
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© 2024 AFP
