Japan leads regional market rout

Singapore

AFTER a drop early this week, regional markets fell again yesterday on news that the US Federal Reserve is pushing on with plans to reduce its bond-buying programme by US$10 billion from next month. Adding to the gloom was a Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) survey that confirmed that China manufacturing contracted this month for the first time in half a year, indicating that economic growth there continues to slow. But analysts remained positive on Japan, while being cautious on China.

Japan was hit the hardest, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index falling more than 3 per cent to below 15,000 points yesterday morning. The index had shot up 60 per cent last year as investors betted on the success of aggressive money-printing by Japan's central bank reviving Japan's economy and a devalued yen driving up corporate profits.