By Sarah Turner and V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) ? Asian markets slumped Monday as a weak U.S. jobs report added to a growing list of investor worries about a fragile global economy, sending Japanese stocks to their lowest in more than two decades, while Hong Kong shares erased year-to-date gains.
?Growth concerns are increasingly accompanying euro-zone tensions as major weights on market sentiment,? said Mitul Kotecha, Credit Agricole?s head of global foreign-exchange strategy.
The Hang Seng Index /quotes/zigman/2622475 HK:HSI -2.01% ?fell 2% during the session, wiping out its gains in the year to date, and giving the Hong Kong benchmark a net loss of 1.4% at Monday?s close.
China?s Shanghai Composite index /quotes/zigman/1859015 CN:000001 -2.73% ?slumped 2.7%, South Korea?s Kospi KR:SEU -2.80% ?skidded 2.8%, Taiwan?s Taiex plunged 3% and Australia?s S&P/ASX 200 index /quotes/zigman/1653884 AU:XJO -1.94% ?lost 1.9% to 3,985, finishing below the 4,000 mark for the first time since November.
U.S. stocks have worst day of 2012
A disappointing May jobs report leads to the Dow' industrials? worst day of 2012.
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average /quotes/zigman/5986735 JP:100000018 -1.71% sank 1.7%, while the broader Topix lost 1.9% to end the day at 695.51, its lowest closing level since at least 1985.
At its finish on Monday, the Nikkei is down 19.1% from the 52-week high of 10,255.15 that it touched on May 27. The Topix, meanwhile, is down 20.9% from its July 8, 2011 high of 879.48.
The losses in Asia came on the heels of a terrible day for U.S. stocks Friday, when all key benchmarks fell more than 2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/zigman/627449 DJIA -2.22% ?gave up all of its gains registered earlier in the year. Read more on U.S. stocks.
The U.S. economy added just 69,000 jobs in May, the smallest net increase in nonfarm payrolls in a year, the government reported. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected a 165,000 increase.
?Basically, the jobs number was much worse than expected,? said Andrew Sullivan at Piper Jaffray. ?The U.S is still growing, but growth is small and prone to setbacks.?
?It does now appear that the global slowdown, and events in Europe in particular, are beginning to have a more marked impact on the U.S. economy,? said economists at Capital Economics.
While few sectors or stocks were spared in Monday?s sell-off, several exporters, financials and resource sector stocks suffered a harsh beating.
In Japan, shares of Nikon Corp. /quotes/zigman/195445 JP:7731 -4.89% ?plunged 4.9%, Mazda Motor Corp,. /quotes/zigman/195040 JP:7261 -7.29% /quotes/zigman/195045/quotes/nls/mzdaf MZDAF -9.16% ?slumped 7.3% and Toyota Motor Corp. /quotes/zigman/199438 JP:7203 -3.52% /quotes/zigman/199376/quotes/nls/tm TM -2.71% ?slid 3.5%.
Sony Corp. /quotes/zigman/197524/quotes/nls/sne SNE -4.46% ? /quotes/zigman/197500 JP:6758 -1.68% ?shares dropped 1.7% to ?996 yen, its first close below ?1,000-level in at least the past 27 years for which FactSet Research data is available, and 55% lower than its price of ?2,226 on July 8, 2011.
The declines came although the dollar held its head above the ?78-level for most of Monday, after briefly dropping below on Friday after the U.S. jobs data. Read more on currencies.
Exporters and other companies dependent on global demand also fared badly elsewhere.
SK Hynix Inc. /quotes/zigman/9519698/quotes/nls/hxscl HXSCL 0.00% ?tumbled 5.3%, and LG Display Co. /quotes/zigman/352771/quotes/nls/lpl LPL -0.57% ?sank 5.2% in Seoul, Esprit Holdings Ltd. /quotes/zigman/38257 HK:330 -3.09% ? /quotes/zigman/38258/quotes/nls/eshdf ESHDF -9.09% /quotes/zigman/38257 HK:330 -3.09% ? lost 3.1% in Hong Kong, and in Taipei, HTC Corp. /quotes/zigman/5770144/quotes/nls/htckf HTCKF -38.99% ? fell 6.5% while Inotera Memories Inc. slumped by the day?s 7% limit.
/quotes/zigman/2622475
HK : HangSeng Ind
Volume: 0.00
June 4, 2012 4:01p
/quotes/zigman/1859015 CN : China: Shanghai
Volume: 90.18M
June 4, 2012 3:15p
KR : South Korea
Volume: 387.03M
June 4, 2012 3:02p
/quotes/zigman/1653884 AU : Australia: Sydney
Volume: 0.00
June 4, 2012 4:11p
/quotes/zigman/5986735 JP : Nikkei Idx
Volume: 0.00
June 4, 2012 3:00p
/quotes/zigman/627449 US : DJ-Index
Volume: 162.94M
June 1, 2012 4:30p
/quotes/zigman/195445 JP : Japan: Tokyo
? 2,081.00
-107.00 -4.89%
Volume: 3.53M
June 4, 2012 3:00p
Market Cap?877.12 billion
Rev. per Employee?37.64M
/quotes/zigman/195040 JP : Japan: Tokyo
Volume: 47.49M
June 4, 2012 3:00p
Market Cap?287.94 billion
Rev. per Employee?53.34M
/quotes/zigman/195045/quotes/nls/mzdaf US : U.S.: OTCBB
Volume: 3,800
June 1, 2012 9:36a
Market Cap$287.94 billion
/quotes/zigman/199438 JP : Japan: Tokyo
? 2,904.00
-106.00 -3.52%
Volume: 15.69M
June 4, 2012 3:00p
Market Cap?10378.50 billion
Rev. per Employee?58.49M
/quotes/zigman/199376/quotes/nls/tm US : U.S.: NYSE
Volume: 574,877
June 1, 2012 4:03p
Market Cap$132.85 billion
Rev. per Employee$696,045
/quotes/zigman/197524/quotes/nls/sne US : U.S.: NYSE
Volume: 1.92M
June 1, 2012 4:01p
Rev. per Employee$485,494
/quotes/zigman/197500 JP : Japan: Tokyo
Volume: 13.58M
June 4, 2012 3:00p
Market Cap?1017.70 billion
Rev. per Employee?38.96M
/quotes/zigman/9519698/quotes/nls/hxscl US : U.S.: OTCBB
/quotes/zigman/352771/quotes/nls/lpl US : U.S.: NYSE
Volume: 566,436
June 1, 2012 4:04p
/quotes/zigman/38257 HK : Hong Kong
Volume: 7.47M
June 4, 2012 4:01p
Market CapHK$15.85 billion
Rev. per EmployeeHK$2.32M
/quotes/zigman/38258/quotes/nls/eshdf US : U.S.: OTCBB
Volume: 633.00
May 29, 2012 10:30a
/quotes/zigman/38257 HK : Hong Kong
Volume: 7.47M
June 4, 2012 4:01p
Market CapHK$15.85 billion
Rev. per EmployeeHK$2.32M
/quotes/zigman/5770144/quotes/nls/htckf US : U.S.: OTCBB
Volume: 2,331
Dec. 6, 2011 12:00a
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