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Stock markets in Asia slumped on Monday morning, following big falls by major indexes around the world last week.<\/p>\n
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was trading around 6% lower, while the Topix was down more than 7%.<\/p>\n
It comes after weak jobs data in the US on Friday sparked fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the yen has been strengthening against the US dollar since the Bank of Japan raised interest rates last week, making stocks in Tokyo more expensive for foreign investors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan\u2019s main share index was down by 6.7%, with chip making giant TSMC more than 6% lower. In South Korea, the Kospi index fell by over 4% lower.<\/p>\n
However, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down by just 0.3% in morning trade, while the Shanghai Stock Exchange was up a little.<\/p>\n
On Friday, stocks in New York fell sharply after official jobs data showed that US employers added 114,000 jobs in July, far fewer than expected.<\/p>\n
The figures raised concerns that a long-running jobs boom in the US might be coming to an end and drove speculation about when and by how much the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n