(VOVWORLD) - Sharp losses on Wall Street spread into Asian stock market on Thursday. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei index plunged 3.7%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell nearly 2.5% before recovering to close down 1%.
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A broad measure of stocks across the region, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, has now slipped into a bear market, which means a 20% decline from its January peak. Top Asian markets have been hammered this year by rising US interest rates and fears over slowing global economic growth, particularly in China.
Stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong have tumbled into bear market territory as the Chinese economy has lost momentum and faced a growing threat from the trade war with the United States.
Major European markets also opened lower Thursday, but the declines were less severe than in Asia. The main indexes in Britain and Germany were down less than 1% in morning trading.