Kospi index falls almost 7 percent on session

Asia-Pacific equities markets were lower again on Thursday. The biggest loser on the session was South Korea’s Kospi index, which dropped 6.93 percent to 1,691.98. Only 18 of the 733 stocks listed on the Kospi saw gains. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 closed at 5,711.5, a decline of 1.32 percent, while the Sydney Ordinaries ended up 1.54 percent lower to 5,712.2. Elsewhere in the region, the Shanghai Composite was 2.14 percent lower to 4,765.45 in China. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 3.29 percent lower to 20,672.39 for its biggest percentage decline in five months, while the Straits Times index fell 3.66 percent to 3,152.16 in Singapore. In India, the Sensex was down 4.28 percent to 14,358.21. Taiwan’s Taiex index dropped 4.56 percent to 8,201.37, while the Jakarta Composite was 5.94 percent lower to 1,908.64. The Philippines Stock Exchange index fell 6.01 percent to 2,942.31.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 1.99 percent to 16,148.49 and the Topix index fell 1.67 percent to 1,567.46 as both indices closed at their lowest level since November 2006. The Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 3.03 percent to 728.89. Banks, carmakers, and the electronics sector were all lower on the session.

Markets were also substantially lower in Europe. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 3.21 percent lower to 1,443.89. The Dax dropped 2.36 percent to 7,270.07 in Frankfurt and the CAC-40 was down 3.26 percent to 5,265.47 in Paris. In Madrid, the IBEX fell 3.68 percent to 13,986.4. There were no winners on either the CAC-40 or the Dax on the session. The biggest losers were stock exchange operators and metals manufacturers.

London’s markets saw even bigger losses than the continental markets. The FTSE 100 fell 4.1 percent to 5,858.9, the first time it had closed below the 6,000 level since March, while the FTSE 250 closed at 10,462.6 for a drop of 3.92 percent. With no winners at all on the 100, miners and the oil sector were both down significantly. Financial services and electricity generators were also were substantially lower. Over on the 250, meanwhile, property groups, publishers, and retailers managed some gains.

Wall Street remained volatile. At just past 2 pm New York time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.02 percent to 12,730.51, but earlier in the afternoon it had been down as much as 308 points, or 2.4 percent. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.2 percent to 2,429.39 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.68 percent to 1,397.17. Earlier, the Nasdaq had been down as much as 2.31 percent and the S&P had been down as much as 2.7 percent. A late rally found the Dow and the Nasdaq both down slightly, while the S&P managed to close 0.32 percent higher at 2,451.07. Mortgage lenders had more problems and were lower on the session, while homebuilders were mixed after new data showing that new home construction was down significantly in July.

Story link: Kospi index falls almost 7 percent on session