Nikkei leads losses in Asia, briefly falling 3% as markets decline after weak U.S. jobs data

Nikkei leads losses in Asia, briefly falling 3% as markets decline after weak U.S. jobs data

People look at the city’s skyline from the Bunkyo Civic Center Observation Deck in Tokyo on August 14, 2024. 

Philip Fong | AFP | Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets fell on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 leading losses in the region, following the weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report on Friday.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 142,000 missing a 161,000 gain estimated by economists polled by Dow Jones. On the other hand, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2%, in line with expectations.

Traders in Asia will assess Japan’s revised GDP figure for the second quarter and China’s consumer price index report coming Monday. Japan’s second-quarter GDP came in at 2.9% on an annualized basis, less than the 3.2% expected by economists polled by Reuters and the advance figure of 3.1%.

China’s inflation rate is expected to grow 0.7% in August from a year ago compared to 0.5% in July.

The Nikkei lost 3% while the broad-based Topix fell 2.79%.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.99% while the small cap Kosdaq was down 1.72%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.6%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 17,443, lower than the HSI’s last close of 17,444.3.

On Friday, the S&P 500 notched its worst week since March 2023. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recorded its worst week since March 2022.

During Friday’s session, the broad index slid 1.73% while the Nasdaq slid 2.55%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.01%.

—CNBC’s Samantha Subin and Pia Singh contributed to this report.

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