Asian markets were rattled Tuesday by the miseries on Wall Street, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index briefly dipping more than 7 percent, but investors seemed to be taking the gyrations in stride. The Tokyo benchmark bounced throughout the day, closing 4.7 percent lower at 21,610.24.
All regional bourses were battered a day after the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its worst percentage decline since August 2011 and its biggest point drop ever. The Shanghai Composite index fell 3.4 percent to 3,370.65 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng skidded 4.4 percent to 30,827.73. Australia’s benchmark S&P ASX 200 slid 3.2 percent to 5,833.30 and South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.5 percent to 2,453.31.
Two days of steep losses erased the U.S. market’s gains from the start of this year, ending a spate of record-setting calm for stocks in a pullback that market pros have been predicting for some time. Declines of 10 percent or more are common during bull markets. There hasn’t been one in two years, and by many measures stocks have been looking expensive. The same is true of many global markets, where investors have been bracing for a correction while hoping not to see one.
