Asian Markets A Sea Of Red

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, reflecting lingering concerns about a recession after recent hotter than expected U.S. inflation data raised expectations of further aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks around the world to control rising consumer prices. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday.

The latest data on U.S. inflation has raised expectations that the central bank will announce another 75-basis point hike in interest rates at its November meeting.

"Wall Street can't seem to get a handle on how high the Fed will have to take rates," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA. He added, "Last week, traders were growing confident that we would just see 125bp more in rate hikes this year, now it seems like we could see 150 this year and also another one or two 25 bps rate increases next year."

Chinese consumer price inflation also accelerated at the fastest pace in more than two years in September

The Australian stock market is sharply lower on Monday, giving up most of the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 6,700 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, dragged by weakness across most sectors, led by energy and mining stocks amid tumbling commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 97.80 points or 1.45 percent to 6,661.00, after hitting a low of 6,645.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 98.40 points or 1.42 percent to 6,850.20. Australian stocks closed sharply higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are losing more than 3 percent each, while OZ Minerals and Mineral Resources are declining almost 3 percent each.

Oil stocks are lower. Beach energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are slipping more than 3 percent each, while Origin Energy is down more than 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is plunging almost 7 percent, Zip is slipping more than 3 percent and WiseTech Global is edging down 0.4 percent, while Xero and Appen are down almost 1 percent each.

Gold miners are weak, Gold Road Resources is sliding almost 6 percent, Newcrest Mining is losing almost 3 percent and Northern Star Resources is declining more than 3 percent, while Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are declining almost 5 percent each.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Adbri are plunging more than 19 percent after the cement manufacturer announced its CEO has stepped down following a sharp drop in profit margins.

Costa Group slid more than 12 percent after announcing a profit downgrade on its citrus business due to adverse weather.

Health insurer Medibank was down almost 4 percent after reporting a ransomware attack last week.

Shares in Star Entertainment Group are in a trading halt after New South Wales Independent Casino Commission announced that the company's Sydney casino licence would be suspended from Friday.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.623 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Monday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 26,700 level, tracking the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, on rising fears of recession and higher interest rates. The yen also touched a 32-year low versus the dollar.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 26,703.00, down 387.76 or 1.43 percent, after hitting a low of 26,649.13 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing are losing almost 1 percent each. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is edging down 0.4 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 3 percent.

The major exporters are weak, with Panasonic and Sony losing more than 1 percent each, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each. Among the other major gainers, M3 is losing almost 5 percent and Recruit Holdings is down more than 3 percent, while Keyence, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Eisai, Inpex, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Itochu, Mitsui & Co. and Terumo are all slipping almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is surging almost 6 percent, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings is gaining more than 4 percent each. Takashimaya is adding almost 4 percent, while Nippon Yusen K.K. and J. Front Retailing are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 148 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan is slipping 2.2 percent, while Hong Kong and Singapore are down 1.6 and 1.4 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 0.1 and 1.0 percent each. On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial pullback over the course of the trading session on Friday. The major averages all posted steep losses, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunging to its lowest closing level in over two years.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the day near their lows of the session after ending Thursday's wild ride sharply higher. The Dow slumped 403.89 points or 1.3 percent to 29,634.83, the Nasdaq dove 327.76 points or 3.1 percent to 10,321.39 and the S&P 500 tumbled 86.84 points or 2.4 percent to 3,583.07.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the rising possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $3.50 or 3.9 percent at $85.61 a barrel.