Asian markets open lower as Wall Street tumbles on US economic data

Asian markets opened lower on October 16 after Wall Street tumbled on US economic data, fuelling growth concerns.

Data from the US showed retail sales and producer prices both fell in September, dimming expectations of an interest rate hike by the central bank.

The S&P 500 fell as much as 3%, briefly turning negative for the year before closing down 0.8%.

Japan’s shares fell more than 2% to a four-and-a-half-month low.

In early trading the Nikkei 225 was at 14,751.77. The dollar was at 105.92 yen, flat from New York trade.

Among the losers were shares of Toyota, down over 2% after the automaker issued a recall of 1.75 million vehicles on Wednesday.

Hong Kong shares opened down almost 1% as the Hang Seng Index fell 226.55 points to 22,913.50.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.5% to 2,451.65 points after data showed that the rate of inflation in September fell, adding to evidence of a slowing economy.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was lower 1% at 5,194.80 points.

Shares of Woodside Petroleum, Australia’s largest independent oil and gas producer, were lower 0.1% despite its third quarter production results beating forecasts.

In South Korea, shares followed the global downtrend.

The benchmark Kospi was down 0.7% after the Bank of Korea cut its interest rate for the second time in three months on October 15, and also downgraded its growth forecasts for the economy for this year.