Emerging Asia-Pacific markets lower on day

Equities markets in Asia saw substantial declines on Monday as investors interested in avoiding risks exited emerging markets. Declines were widespread throughout the region.

In Mumbai, the market fell 10 percent during the day, causing trade to be suspended for an hour. Once trade resumed, the market recovered some but still closed 4.2 percent lower at 10,481.77. In other major Asian markets, Indonesia’s Composite Index lost 6 percent to 1,309.05 and the Straits Times in Singapore and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong each dropped 3.1 percent to 2,416.69 and 15,805.52 respectively.

The Kospi index in Seoul declined by 2.5 percent to 1,338.59. The biggest exception to the declines there was retailer Shinsegae, which added 6.6 percent on the day to won460,000 after it said it would buy Wal-Mart’s South Korean stores.

Meanwhile, in Australia, the S&P/ASX in Sydney dropped 1.4 percent to 5,030.8. Miners were a factor there, with BHP Billiton dropping 3 percent to A$27.89 and Rio Tinto falling 3.9 percent to A$75.22. Oil stocks were also lower in Sydney, with ARC Energy down 6.4 percent to A$1.54 and Hardman Resources declined by 6.7 percent to A$1.76.

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