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Asian stocks started lower Wednesday following fresh declines in Europe and the U.S., amid fears that Italy could go months more without a government.
Japan’s stocks bore the brunt in Asia. The Nikkei skidded 1.8% in morning trading, hit by a strengthened yen and the overnight surge in Treasurys prices, with policy-sensitive two-year yields after the holiday weekend logging their biggest one-day drop since 2009. Life insurers were down sharply, with Dai-ichi Life Holdings and T&D Holdings each falling more than 3%.
Export-reliant companies were also seeing strong stock drops as the safe-haven yen continued to rebound. Honda , Sony and Panasonic were all sharply down.
Declines were spread across Asian markets. South Korea’s Kospi dropped around 2%, as did stocks in Shanghai and Singapore , while Hong Kong stocks were down 1.6%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 only slipped 0.5%, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 was slightly higher.