No sector spared
The savage selling in Asia was across the board, with no sector unharmed — tech firms, car makers, banks, casinos and energy firms all felt the pain as investors abandoned riskier assets.
Among the biggest losers, Chinese ecommerce titans Alibaba tanked more than 17 percent and rival JD.com shed 14 percent, while Japanese tech investment giant SoftBank dived more than 11 percent and Sony gave up nine percent.
Hong Kong’s 13 percent loss marked its worst day since October 1997 during the Asian financial crisis, while Frankfurt plunged 10 percent.
Shanghai shed more than seven percent, with China’s state-backed fund Central Huijin Investment vowing to help ensure “stable operations” of the market.
Singapore plunged nearly eight percent, while Seoul gave up more than five percent, triggering a so-called sidecar mechanism — for the first time in eight months — that briefly halted some trading.
Sydney, Wellington, Manila and Mumbai were also deep in the red, while London and Paris both dropped more than six percent at the open.
“We could see a recession happen very quickly in the US, and it could last through the year or so, it could be rather lengthy,” said Steve Cochrane, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Moody’s Analytics.