Tokyo, Japan (BBN)-A drop in oil prices together with a stronger yen against the dollar sent Japan’s stocks down by more 1.5 per cent in morning trading on Wednesday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was later down 0.8 per cent to 15,918.7 points, reports BBC.
The yen rose as much as 0.3 per cent against the dollar in early Asia trade, hurting some of Japan’s big exporters, while oil prices lost more than 4 per cent overnight.
In Australia, energy related shares were hit by the fall in oil prices.
BHP was down more than 7 per cent and Santos fell nearly 3 per cent.
Australian miner Fortescue said on Wednesday that its first-half net profit fell by 3.6 per cent as the price of iron ore tumbled amid a mounting global supply glut. Its Sydney-listed shares were down 1.4 per cent.
Sydney’s ASX 200 was down 1.2 per cent to 4,919.3 points.
In China, shares were mixed in early trade.
The Shanghai Composite index was up 0.67 per cent to 2,922.9 points, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down 0.3 per cent to 19,355.43.
Shares in lender Standard Chartered sank more than 6% in early Hong Kong trade after the Asia-focused bank on Tuesday posted a $1.5bn (£1.1bn) loss.
In his annual budget speech on Wednesday, Hong Kong’s financial secretary John Tsang said he expected the city’s economy to grow between 1 per cent and 2 per cent this year.
South Korea’s Kospi index was up 0.13 per cent at 1,916.46 points.
BBN/SK/AD