Investing.com - Asian stocks declined in morning trade on Thursday after Wall Street recorded the largest daily decline since 2011 on Wednesday and erased all its gains for 2018.
Overnight, the NASDAQ Composite fell 4.4%, the Dow lost 2.4% and the S&P 500 lost 3.1%. Yields in 10-Year Treasuries fell the most since May to 3.1%.
Analysts believed several factors including recent earnings disappointment, concerns over Italy’s government budget and tensions in Saudi Arabia were all major headwinds for global equities.
"Weak U.S. housing data, mixed corporate earnings results, trade war fears and concerns regarding a slowing global economy all contributed to the sell off," Sydney-based Rivkin Securities said in a note to clients.
"Investor sentiment remains cautious as we anticipate the reports of over 100 S&P 500 companies including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)."
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 3.1% by 9:49 PM ET (01:49 GMT). South Korea’s KOSPI slid 2.2% after official data showed the country’s economy’s growth was slower than expected in the third quarter.
Gross domestic product grew a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in July-September from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said, compared with the median forecast of a 0.7% gain.
Index heavyweight SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660)’s shares dropped despite reporting better-than-expected earnings. July-September operating profit rose 73% year-on-year to 6.5 trillion won, compared with the expected 6.3 trillion won.
Sales rose 41% to a record high of 11.4 trillion won compared to the same period last year.
Elsewhere, China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component fell 1.7% and 2.2% respectively. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.9%.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 slid 2.2% in morning trade.