Japan’s stock market has suffered its biggest crash in history.
The Nikkei 225 index plunged more than 12%, losing more than 4,400 points, as market concerns about slow economic growth in the United States drove the sharp decline.
Other major stock indices in the Asia-Pacific region are also falling: the Shanghai Composite lost 1.3%, the Hang Seng Index – 2.3%, the KOSPI – 8.8%, the S&P/ASX 200 – 3.7%, and the Taiex – 8.4%.
This fall also affected the cryptocurrency market. The price of Bitcoin dropped sharply from $60,000 to $49,500.
The last one-day decline in the stock market was on Black Monday in 1987, when the Nikkei lost 3,836 points.
American stock markets also opened with a sharp decline on Monday, August 5.
The broad-spectrum Dow Jones index lost 2.8% in the first minutes, the high-tech Nasdaq – 5.8%. The S&P 500, which includes the 500 largest American companies, fell by 3.9%.
American markets are falling amid fears that the US economy is entering a recession – for example, last week it became known that unemployment in the United States increased to a record high in almost four years.
Analysts speculate that the Fed could hold an emergency meeting as early as this week, after which it will announce a rate cut to stimulate the economy.
On August 5, Japan’s Nikkei fell 13%, its biggest drop since 1987. In addition to the poor statistics from the US, the recent increase in the Bank of Japan’s key rate had a negative impact on Japanese markets.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 3.2% on August 5, its biggest one-day drop since October 2022.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.