Japan’s Nikkei plunges over 8% as Asia markets continue selloff; US futures tumble

[SINGAPORE] The selloff continued as Asian markets tumbled on Monday morning, following US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement last Wednesday (Apr 2).

The Nikkei 225 index in Japan fell up to 8.6 per cent shortly after trading opened, following a 5.4 per cent fall last week in the two days following the announcement on Wednesday. The yen strengthened against the Singapore dollar by 2.3 per cent.

In Australia, despite the country only being hit with 10 per cent baseline tariffs, the ASX 200 index slid more than 6 per cent in the morning. The Australian dollar plummeted to just 81 Singapore cents, a level that was last seen in April 2020 during the Covid pandemic-induced crash.

South Korea saw the Kospi index fall by up to 5.2 per cent, falling almost 100 points since closing on Friday.

Dow futures continued to plummet, falling more than 1,400 points, or 3.7 per cent, while S&P futures dropped more than 4.8 per cent.

The US dollar has strengthened more than 1 per cent against the Singapore dollar since Friday, last fetching SGD$1.3464 on Monday morning.