Asian equities plunged in early trading on Monday as a global stock market rout continued following a weekend where US officials made no indication they would back down from Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariff regime.
Japan’s benchmark Topix index fell over 9 per cent in the first 30 minutes of trading, while South Korea’s Kospi dropped 5 per cent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 6.1 per cent.
Oil futures dropped further as expectations of a slowdown in global demand grew. Brent crude prices, the international benchmark, lost 3.7 per cent to reach $63.2 per barrel.
Haven assets continued to rally. The yen strengthened 1 per cent to ¥145.5 per dollar while the 10-year Japanese government bond yield dropped 0.14 percentage points to 1.05 per cent. Yields on US 10-year Treasuries dropped 0.1 percentage points to 3.89 per cent.
