Asian stocks eased after stocks fell sharply last week

Asian stock markets fell on Monday morning, following a sharp fall in major global indexes last week.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was trading 4.6% lower, while the Topix fell 5.7%.

It comes after weak US jobs data on Friday fueled fears of a global recession.

Meanwhile, the yen has been strengthening against the US dollar since the Bank of Japan raised interest rates last week, making Tokyo stocks more expensive for foreign investors.

“The selloff was motivated by a big thank you to the [yen] as global investors turn to watch out for Japanese corporate earnings, particularly from traders such as automakers,” said Kei Okamura, Tokyo-based portfolio manager at investment firm Neuberger Berman.

The Japanese currency has strengthened nearly 9% against the US dollar in the past month.

A strong yen makes Japanese goods more expensive, and therefore less attractive to potential overseas buyers.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan’s main share index fell 6.9%, while chip major TSMC was up more than 6%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index fell 5.5%, major chip makers including Samsung fell more than 7%, while SK Hynix was down 6.5%.

However, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down just 0.6% in morning trade, while the Shanghai Stock Exchange was down 0.2%.

On Friday, stocks in New York fell sharply after official jobs data showed that US employers added 114,000 jobs in July, far fewer than expected.

The figures raised concerns that the long-running US job growth may be coming to an end and fueled speculation about when and how much the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.