Asian Markets A Sea Of Red

Asian stock markets are a sea of red on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as concerns about slowing economic growth and inflationary pressures are hurting market sentiment amid the escalation of the Russian-Ukraine crisis over the weekend, resulting in more sanctions and threats of nuclear deployment. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday.

Russia has escalated its attacks and taken control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The Russian attack on the plant had previously caused a fire to break out at the facility, raising concerns about a potential nuclear disaster.

As the war continues to rage, it is feared that Western countries will likely impose more stringent sanctions on Russia that could significantly disrupt oil exports from the country, which is the world’s biggest exporter of crude and oil products combined.

Worries about Ukraine overshadowed the Labor Department report that showed U.S. employment once again jumped by much more than expected in February.

The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 7,100 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with weakness in technology and financial stocks partially offset by gains in energy, materials and mining stocks amid a spike in commodity prices.

Traders continue to monitor the lingering geopolitical situation amid the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the related sanctions on Russia.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 60.70 points or 0.85 percent to 7,050.10, after hitting a low of 7,010.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 62.10 points or 0.84 percent to 7,333.20. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is edging up 0.4 percent Fortescue Metals is adding more than 1 percent and OZ Minerals is advancing almost 3 percent, while Mineral Resources is losing more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are higher, with Beach energy gaining almost 4 percent, Santos adding almost 5 percent, Woodside Petroleum surging almost 7 percent and Origin Energy advancing more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is losing more than 3 percent, Block is plunging moiré than 10 percent, WiseTech Global is declining almost 3 percent, Xero is losing more than 1 percent and Zip is slipping almost 4 percent.

Gold miners are higher. Evolution Mining is advancing more than 5 percent, Newcrest Mining is gaining almost 4 percent, Resolute Mining is soaring more than 9 percent, Northern Star Resources is surging more than 7 percent and Gold Road Resources is adding almost 6 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.2 percent, ANZ Banking is losing more than 1 percent, National Australia Bank is declining more than 2 percent and Westpac is down almost 2 percent.

In other news, shares in AGL is slipping 1.5 percent after the Australian power company rejected a sweetened $9 billion takeover bid from tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Canadian asset giant Brookfield.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.740 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is sharply lower in on Monday, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 plunging more than 800 points to below the 25,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with steep losses across all sectors amid lingering geopolitical concerns on the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine crisis resulting in sanctions and threats of nuclear deployment.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 25,166.23, down 819.24 points or 3.15 percent, after hitting a low of 25,006.26 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 5 percent and Toyota is plunging more than 7 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is slipping almost 7 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 5 percent and Screen Holdings is declining almost 6 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 3 percent, Mizuho Financial is down 1.5 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is slipping almost 3 percent.

The major exporters are lower, with Panasonic sliding more than 6 percent, Mitsubishi Electric losing almost 5 percent, Sony declining 1.5 percent and Canon down almost 4 percent.

Among the other major losers, Hino Motors is plunging almost 17 percent, while Suzuki Motor, Nippon Sheet Glass, Japan Steel Works, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Isuzu Motors, Asahi Group, Hitachi, JTEKT, NTN, Nissan Motor, Z Holdings, Denso aad Hitachi Zosen are all slipping between 7 and 10 percent each.

Conversely, Mitsubishi Materials is surging 6.5 percent, Inpex is gaining almost 6 percent, Idemitsu Kosan is adding almost 5 percent and Shionogi & Co. is up almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 114 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is plunging 3.4 percent, Taiwan is slipping 3.0 percent, South Korea is sliding 2.4 percent, New Zealand is declining 1.6 percent, China is losing 1.3 percent, Malaysia is down 1.2 percent, Indonesia is losing 0.8 percent and Singapore is down 0.7 percent.

On Wall Street, stocks saw further downside during trading on Friday after ending the previous session mostly lower. The major averages all moved to the downside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a particularly steep drop.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels of the day but still closed firmly in negative territory. The Dow fell 196.86 points or 0.5 percent to 33,614.80, the Nasdaq tumbled 224.50 points or 1.6 percent to 13,313.44 and the S&P 500 slid 34.62 points or 0.8 percent to 4,328.87.

The major European markets also moved sharply lower on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plummeted by 5 percent, the German DAX Index plunged by 4.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index sank by 3.5 percent.

Crude oil prices moved up sharply on Friday as worries about supply disruptions grew amid an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended up by $8.01 or about 7.4 percent at $115.68 a barrel, the highest settlement since September 2008. WTI crude futures skyrocketed 26.3 percent for the week, the steepest climb in percentage terms since the week ending April 3, 2020.

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