The Australian share market has recorded its biggest single-day fall since 2020 amid the ongoing fallout from sweeping US tariffs.
SINGAPORE — Market turmoil triggered by new US tariff measures continued to ripple through global equities on Monday, sending Singapore’s Straits Times Index (STI) plunging 8.7 per cent at the open to 3,494.39 points.
The sharp drop marked the STI’s steepest single-day decline since an 8.9 per cent plunge during the 2008 global financial crisis, and exceeded the 8.4 per cent fall seen in March 2020 amid Covid-19.
“According to experts, if tariffs are sustained, they could contribute to higher inflation and slower global growth, which may in turn trigger further volatility and potential sell-offs in markets globally, including Singapore,” said David Gerald, President of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), as quoted by The Straits Times, Xinhua news agency reported.
The association noted in a report on Monday that while Singapore’s stock market had remained relatively resilient in recent weeks despite looming tariff concerns, it “ultimately caved in” when broad-based selling took hold on Friday. This followed worse-than-expected tariff announcements by the Trump administration, a move many fear could tip the global economy into recession.
On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10-percent “minimum baseline tariff” on all imports, including those from Singapore, with higher rates targeting specific trading partners.
Tokyo stocks suffer its third-largest point drop on record
Meanwhile, Tokyo stocks also plunged Monday, with the benchmark Nikkei index suffering its third-largest point drop on record, as global sell-offs continued amid intensifying fears of an all-out trade war and a global economic recession triggered by the US tariffs hike.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, ended down 2,644.00 points, or 7.83 per cent, from Friday at 31,136.58.
The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 193.40 points, or 7.79 percent, lower at 2,288.66.
Tokyo stocks plunged early Monday with the benchmark Nikkei index briefly losing nearly 3,000 points amid growing fears of a global trade conflict triggered by US tariffs.
In the first 15 minutes of trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, shed 2,843.48 points, or 8.42 per cent, from Friday to 30,937.10, the lowest intraday level since October 2023.
Austraian shares record its biggest single-day fall since 2020
The Australian share market has recorded its biggest single-day fall since 2020 amid the ongoing fallout from sweeping US tariffs.
The S&P/ASX 200 — Australia’s benchmark share market index — closed down 4.2 per cent on Monday to 7,343.3 points in a plunge worth more than 100 billion Australian dollars (60.1 billion US dollars).
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that it was the index’s biggest one-day fall since May 2020.
It marks a fall of 14.1 per cent from the market’s record-high close of 8,555.8 points on February 14 and the index’s lowest close since December 2023.
The benchmark was down more than 6 per cent within minutes of opening on Monday in a wipeout worth about 160 billion Australian dollars but rebounded slightly.
Australia’s banking, energy and mining sectors were among the hardest-hit.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia — the nation’s largest bank — closed down 6.2 per cent and multinational mining giant BHP was down 6.1 per cent.
Responding to the slump on Monday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was concerned about the impact on superannuation funds, Xinhua news agency reported. Superannuation is an Australian system whereby a portion of an employee’s wage is placed into an investment fund made available upon retirement.
“We’re seeing a considerable impact, negative impact on the stock market that impacts Australians because superannuation funds have their shares there,” Albanese told reporters.
“I’m concerned about the impact in Asia. If you look at the impact of some of the tariffs in Asia, some of them were quite high,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, the value of the Australian dollar fell below 60 US cents for the first time since 2020. — IANS