Asia turns negative; Nikkei 225 drops 1% on stronger yen

The Asian markets took a complete U-turn on Thursday, now trading in the negative territory after an upbeat start. The stocks on the Asian bourses tracked the Wall Street higher at open, although failed to hold gains and retreated from six-week highs as aggressive selling in the Japanese stocks pulled its Asian counterparts lower.

The yen’s relative strength weighed on the exporters’ stocks and overshadowed gains seen in the energy and resource stocks in response to the recent rally in oil prices.

Moreover, resurgence of China slowdown concerns after downbeat Chinese CPI data release also crush risk appetite and dampened the sentiment around the region’s equities.

Nikkei dumped amid intensifying risk-off

The Japanese benchmark index, the Nikkei 225 now drops -1.01%, moving –off lows to trade around 16,665 levels, while USD/JPY drops -0.31% to 106.65. Australia’s ASX 200 index also follows suit, now falling -0.27% to 5,355.

While the Chinese equities trade weaker on the back of poor Chinese CPI, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropping -0.30%, the CSI300 index trades -0.41% at 3,160 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slips -0.14%.