Tokyo led a collapse throughout the region in early trade, diving more than five percent, while Hong Kong was down almost four percent at one point and Sydney sank three percent. Dealers tracked their colleagues in New York, where the Dow suffered its worst points fall in history, wiping out all its 2018 gains, while the S&P 500 also took a beating to sit down for the year. The heavy selling comes after months of surges fuelled by optimism over the US economy, corporate earnings and the global outlook. The so-called Vix "fear" index more than doubled in US trade on Monday. Among other Asian markets Singapore was 2.3 percent off, Seoul dived three percent, Taipei lost 3.7 percent, Manila plunged 2.7 percent and Shanghai gave up 2.1 percent.

Source: The Nation Bangkok February 06, 2018 02:15 UTC