Stocks in Asia fell Friday, dragged by weakness on Wall Street
amid growing concerns about the pace of global growth.
The Nikkei Stock Average was down 1.1% at 15302.60 while
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.6% at 5210.60, after the Dow
Jones Industrial Average tumbled 2% on Thursday. The fall gave the
Dow its first 300-point drop since late July, and its largest loss
of the year. Other U.S. equity indexes were also weaker with the
broader S&P 500 down 2.1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
Index shed 2%.
Overnight, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi
reiterated his commitment to employ strong measures to combat low
inflation in the eurozone, spurring expectations for further easing
by the ECB. That added to volatility in the global stock market,
where investors have already been on edge with the prospect of
higher U.S. interest rates as well as a confluence of global growth
worries, including in China and Europe.
The dollar traded at Yen107.81 from Yen107.84 late Thursday in
New York. Recent dollar weakness has been hurting Japanese
exporters, including Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. which was down 2.3%,
while Mazda Motor Corp. fell 2.5%.
Minutes Friday from a meeting by the Bank of Japan showed that
one board member warned of possible negative effects of additional
stimulus, even as most investors expect the bank to expand monetary
stimulus early next year with inflation staying well below the
bank's target level. The comment indicated that not every board
member is comfortable with aggressively easing policy further, any
signs of skepticism among central bankers toward the economic
effects of further easing could weaken the impact of the action,
especially in the minds of market participants.
Stocks in Australia were are an eight-month low again with
energy and mining stocks leading losses.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said a significant
move in the next few days under the 5208 low hit by the benchmark
index on Tuesday would signal that September's trend downward has
resumed.
Mining heavyweights BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Ltd. was are
down 2.6% and 2.4%, respectively. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. was down
2.4%, Santos Ltd. was 2.7% lower, and Oil Search Ltd. shed
3.3%.
Korea's Kospi was off by 0.9% at 1946.81.
Robb Stewart contributed to this article.
Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com
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