Asia stocks slide tracking US peers amid recession risks

Investing.com-- Asian stocks tumbled on Tuesday led by sharp declines in the tech sector, as markets tracked Wall Street’s overnight sell-off amid mounting recession fears in the U.S. fueled by President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

Major U.S. stock indexes tumbled on Monday, with tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite plunging 4%.

Asian tech stocks slide on US recession fears

A Reuters poll showed that economic risks are mounting for Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. as businesses and policymakers grapple with uncertainty stemming from the chaotic implementation of Trump’s tariffs.

Inflation concerns in the U.S., which were already on the rise, have worsened, making it increasingly likely that the Federal Reserve will delay any policy adjustments in the near future. At the same time, the likelihood of a recession is growing across all three nations, the survey found.

Despite escalating trade tensions, Trump has avoided making any predictions about whether the U.S. could face a recession in 2025.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.4% to its lowest level since mid-September 2024, while TOPIX slid 2%.

SoftBank Group (TYO:9984) shares fell 4%, while Tokyo Electron (TYO:8035) stock slid 2.2%. Panasonic (TYO:6752) shares declined 4.1%.

South Korea’s KOSPI declined 1.2% with tech heavyweights Samsung Electronics (KS:005930), and SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) losing 0.5%, and 2.2%, respectively.

China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.7% on Tuesday, while the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index slipped 0.8%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was trading 1% lower. Hong Kong-listed Alibaba's (HK:9988) stock fell 1.3%.

Futures for Nifty 50 were largely muted, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index lost 0.8%.

The Philippines' PSEi Composite slumped 2%, while Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped 1.7%.

Japan Q4 GDP revision, Australia consumer sentiment in focus

Japan's fourth-quarter 2024 GDP growth was revised down to an annualized 2.2% from 2.8%, primarily due to weaker consumption.

Despite this, the Bank of Japan is expected to proceed with interest rate hikes amid resilience in the economy and sticky inflation.

In Australia, consumer sentiment surged to a three-year high in March, with the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index rising 4% to 95.9.

This boost was attributed to the Reserve Bank of Australia's recent interest rate cut and easing inflation pressures.

This article first appeared in Investing.com