China World Trade Center.
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Japanese stocks fell over 2%, leading declines in Asia-Pacific markets, after U.S. President Donald Trump made it clear that tariffs on Mexico and Canada would go into effect as planned.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 2.13%, while the broader Topix index was down 1.32%.
Japan’s employment rate for January came in at 2.5%, slightly higher than Reuters’ estimates of 2.4%.
South Korea’s Kospi index was up 0.21% in choppy trade, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 1.05% at the start of the day.
The country’s retail sales for January fell 0.6% from the previous month. Revised estimates show a rise in the 0.2% rise in the metric in December.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 22,910 pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 23,006.27.
Investors will be keeping a watch on Chinese stocks ahead of the country’s annual parliamentary gathering, known as the “Two Sessions,” which will kick off later in the day.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was trading 0.84% lower.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes fell as Trump reiterated that 25% levies on imports from Mexico and Canada would go into effect Tuesday stateside.
The S&P 500 fell 1.76% to end the day at 5,849.72. This marks its worst day since December and brings its year-to-date performance to a loss of about 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 649.67 points, or 1.48%, to finish at 43,191.24. The Nasdaq Composite slid 2.64% to close at 18,350.19, weighed down by Nvidia‘s decline of more than 8%.
— CNBC’s Alex Harring and Yun Li contributed to this report.
