Asian stocks saw widespread losses on Wednesday, extending a global rout in equities and commodities, on lingering worries over the future of the Federal Reserve's bond-buying policy. The Bank of Japan's decision yesterday to hold off launching fresh economic stimulus measures stoked speculation that the era of ultra-loose global monetary policy is on the wane.
Tokyo stocks ended off their day's lows as the dollar rebounded against the yen after suffering its biggest drop in three years the previous day on disappointment over the Bank of Japan's policy board decision to leave its bond-buying program unchanged. The Nikkei average slipped 0.2 percent, while the broader Topix index shed 0.4 percent. Realty firms and automakers led the decliners, while utilities and textile companies gained ground.
Toyota Motor fell 1.8 percent on the back of a fluctuating yen, Honda Motor lost 1.7 percent and Mazda Motor retreated 2.4 percent. Komatsu and Hitachi Construction Machinery ended modestly higher, reversing early losses even as data from the Cabinet Office showed Japanese core machinery orders plunged a seasonally adjusted 8.8 percent in April to 723.3 billion yen from the previous month, increasing uncertainty over a pickup in business investment.
The fall in core orders was slightly larger than expected by economists. On an annual basis, orders dipped 1.1 percent, beating expectations for a fall of 4.3 percent.
Australian shares dropped to a five-month low, with concerns over slowing Chinese growth and uncertainty about the outlook for U.S. monetary policy weighing on the market. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.9 percent initially before recouping some of its loss to end 0.7 percent lower at 4,724, its lowest level since January 16.
Banks bore the brunt of the selling, weighed down by a weakening Australian dollar and higher bond yields on growing concerns about the economic outlook. Commonwealth eased 0.4 percent, while NAB, ANZ and Westpac all ended down over a percent each. Global miner Rio Tinto and rival BHP slipped less than half a percent each, while gold miner Newcrest, which responded to an ASX inquiry into the timing and circumstances of last week's profit warning and job cut plans, lost 0.8 percent.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp slipped 0.6 percent after its shareholders formally approved the separation of its businesses into two independent, publicly-traded companies. In economic news, the consumer confidence index rose 4.7 percent to 102.2 in June from the previous month, with optimists out-numbering pessimists, the latest survey by Westpac-Melbourne Institute revealed.
South Korea's Kospi average closed 0.6 percent lower on fears major central banks would soon taper off their economic stimulus measures. Samsung Electronics shed 0.3 percent, extending losses for a fifth consecutive session, while Hyundai Motor dropped 1.5 percent. Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. plummeted 14.7 percent after North Korea called off high-level talks with South Korea scheduled to begin on Wednesday amid dispute over who should lead their delegations.
New Zealand shares joined a global selloff to end modestly lower for the day. The benchmark NZX-50 eased half a percent to 4,442 with 34 of its components retreating. Ebos Group shares, which started trading ex-rights, slumped 9.4 percent and auction website Trade Me tumbled 3.4 percent, while exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 2.4 percent following a briefing on its strategy and products.
Retailers Michael Hill International, The Warehouse Group and Hallenstein Glasson lost 1-4 percent after data from Statistics New Zealand showed retail credit card spending in New Zealand rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent in May from the previous month, matching forecasts following the 0.6 percent increase in April.
Elsewhere, India's Sensex was down half a percent, Malaysia's KLSE Composite was declining 0.3 percent and Singapore's Straits Times index was down 0.4 percent, while Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was gaining 1.6 percent following recent sharp losses.The markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed for holidays.
U.S. stocks ended Tuesday's session sharply lower, as the lack of further action from the Bank of Japan to curb volatility in bond markets fueled concerns that global central banks may be less forthcoming with additional monetary stimulus. The Dow fell 0.8 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.1 percent and the S&P 500 dropped a percent.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.