A man looks at an electronic board displaying stock prices of the Nikkei 225 listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on April 30, 2024.
Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets slid on Tuesday, tracking losses in the U.S. following anxiety over tariff policy and a potential recession in the world’s largest economy.
Japanese markets led losses in the region, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling over 2% shortly after the open, while the broader Topix index fell 1.57%.
The country’s revised GDP for the fourth quarter came in at 2.2% on an annualized basis, below economists’ expectations and the previous estimate of 2.8% growth.
South Korea’s Kospi started the day 1.78% lower, while the small-cap Kosdaq plunged 2.11%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell around 1.28% in early trade, reversing course from gains in the previous session.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 23,321 pointing to a slightly weaker open compared to its Monday close of 23,783.49.
Overnight in the U.S., stocks slid amid fears that Trump’s tariff policy could push the U.S. into a recession.
The S&P 500 shed 2.7%, after touching its lowest level since September at one point. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite saw the sharpest decline, falling 4%, in its worst session since September 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.08%, ending at 41,911.71.
The S&P 500 is off 8.7% from its all-time high on Feb. 19, while the Nasdaq Composite is off nearly 14% from its recent high. A 10% decline is considered a correction on Wall Street.
The losses worsened as the day progressed, but the major averages came off their session lows just before the close.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
