Asian Markets Follow Wall Street’s Lead in a Broad Sell-Off
HONG KONG — Investors across Asia — from Hong Kong to Seoul, Tokyo to Shanghai — appeared to get the same memo on Friday morning: Sell.
The MSCI China stock index, which tracks shares of some of China’s biggest companies, is still
up nearly 50 percent since the beginning of last year even after the recent stock slump
The sell-off, which started earlier this week, was prompted by fears of rising inflation in the United States as strong data, including low unemployment
and high corporate profits, suggested the economy’s resilience.
Rising inflation could lead the Federal Reserve to raise its interest rates sooner than expected, setting off
a series of reactions around the globe as the cost of borrowing in American dollars would begin to rise.
Following drastic losses in the United States on Thursday, stock markets across the region fell deep into the red in morning trading.