Move FM Australian News

SYDNEY, Australia – Stocks plunged in Asia on Monday with the Nikkei 225 in Japan diving more than 1,000 points, and the Australian All Ordinaries losing more than 7% of its value.

The main index in Hong Kong also fell more than 1,000 points.

The price of oil collapsed, falling 36%.

“Wild is an understatement,” Chris Brankin, Chief Executive at stockbroker TD Ameritrade Singapore was quoted as saying by the Reuters Thomson news agency on Monday.

“Not just us, but across the globe you would have every broker/dealer raising their margin requirements…trying to basically protect our clients from trying to leverage too much risk or guess where the bottom is.”

Safe-have currencies, the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc soared. The U.S. dollar was heavily sold against the majors, but maid some ground against the commodity bloc. The 30-year U.S. treasury yield fell below 1%.

At the close of trading Monday the Nikkei 225 in Japan was down 1,050.99 points or 5.07% at 19,698.76.

The Australian All Ordinaries had its worst single day of trading since the Global Financial Crisis. It shed 465.10 points or 7.40% of its value to 5,822.40.

In China, the Shanghai Composite bared best of all, but still gave up 91.22 points or 3.01% to 2,943.29.

In Hong Kong, the key index, the Hang Heng, dived 1,106.21 points or 4.23% to 25,040.46.

The Japanese yen was catapulted up to 102.11, a more than 3% gain on the day. The Swiss franc appreciated sharply to 0.9236.

The euro was in sold demand, last trading at 1.1457. The British pound too saw its best level for some time, strengthening to 1.3195.

The Canadian dollar b y contrast fell to 1.3650. The Australian dollar eased to 0.6543, while the New Zealand dollar dropped to 0.6270.