By Shani Raja - Aug 9, 2011 11:24 AM GMT+0700 The global rout in equities engulfed Asia’s stock markets, sending benchmark indexes in the region’s six biggest markets down more than 20 percent from recent highs after Standard & Poor’s cut the U.S. credit rating and China’s inflation accelerated.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which last week entered a so- called correction after falling more than 10 percent from its May peak, slumped as much as 5.5 percent today. It was down 3.3 percent at 118.79 as of 1:20 p.m. in Tokyo. Just 81 of the 1,018 companies on the gauge advanced. All industry groups tracked by the measure dropped. Equity indexes in Australia, India, Hong Kong, Shanghai and South Korea have registered falls in excess of 20 percent from their peaks, fulfilling the conditions of a so-called bear market, on concern the global economy is slowing and the U.S. may enter a recession. The Asia-Pacific index’s earlier declines saw it erase all the gains since U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke announced in August 2010 that the bank would add further stimulus to the economy through a program of asset purchases, also known as quantitative easing, or QE2. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-09/asian-stocks-decline-for-sixth-day-on-worsening-global-outlook.html '+'
