Stocks in Asia declined on Tuesday as investor sentiment dipped on concerns about the global outlook, after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashed its world economic growth forecast on Monday.
The Nikkei 225 lost 96.42 points, or 0.5%, to 20,622.91. Shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing, the company behind the Uniqlo chain of apparel stores, slipped 0.5%
The Japanese yen, widely viewed as a safe-haven currency, traded at 109.39 against the U.S. dollar after seeing an earlier low of 109.69.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dipped 191.09 points, or 0.7%, to 27,005.45
Korean markets were lower, despite the country’s economic growth for the fourth quarter of 2018 coming in above expectations.
Australian markets dipped, as the heavily-weighted financial subindex Down Under declined 1.2% as shares of the country’s so-called Big Four banks saw losses. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group slipped 1.5%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia declined 1.2%, Westpac fell 1.7% and National Australia Bankshed 1.3%
The Australian dollar was at $0.7129 U.S. after slipping from highs of about $0.717 yesterday.
The IMF reduced its estimate for global growth on Monday, cautioning that the economic momentum seen in recent years is slowing.
The IMF now projects a 3.5% growth rate worldwide for 2019 and 3.6% for 2020. These are 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points below its last forecasts in October — making it the second downturn revision in three months.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dropped 42.32 points, or 1.3%, to 3,192.71
Beijing announced on Monday that the Chinese economy grew 6.6% in 2018, which was the slowest pace since 1990. Meanwhile, the official Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country needed to be on guard for "black swan" events while also preventing "grey rhino" events.
A black swan event is an unforeseen occurrence that has dire consequences whereas a grey rhino is an obvious threat that is ignored.
Officials from the U.S. and China are attempting to reach a deal to ease trade tensions between the two economic powerhouses, which rocked global markets for much of 2018.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index subtracted 27.85 points, or 0.9%, to 3,192.71
In Korea, the Kospi index faded 6.84 points, or 0.3%, to 2,117.37
In Taiwan, the Taiex index poked ahead 5.26 points, or 0.1%, to 9,894.66
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 moved lower 33.94 points, or 0.4%, to 9,114.63
In Australia, the ASX 200 backtracked 31.59 points, or 0.5%, to 5,858.79
