Japan stocks, South Korean won tumble as Wall St turns red

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei index at a securities firm. Japan’s main Nikkei index of shares fell in early trade on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

TOKYO, Japan – Japan’s main Nikkei index of shares fell in early trade on Wednesday as worries about a US-China trade war killed off a rebound rally on Wall Street.

South Korea’s currency meanwhile fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009, while oil prices slumped three percent in early Asian trade.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down just over three percent and the broader Topix index was off 3.1 percent.

READ: US stocks fall again as global rally fizzles

On Tuesday, the Nikkei had rebounded six percent from heavy losses after US President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs last week.

Other markets in Asia and Europe had followed suit, as did Wall Street after three days of near-panic selling.

Sentiment was buoyed by hopes of tariff negotiations between the White House and Japan and South Korea.

But US stocks later turned south and all three major indices finished firmly in the red, with the S&P 500 shedding 1.6 percent and the Dow Jones off 0.8 percent.

Sweeping 10 percent tariffs took effect over the weekend for imports into the world’s biggest economy.

Higher rates for a slew of countries were set to come into force at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) Wednesday.

Trump originally unveiled a 34 percent additional tariff on Chinese goods.

But after Beijing unveiled its own 34 percent counter tariff on American products, he vowed to pile on another 50 percent duty.

Counting existing levies imposed in February and March, that would take the cumulative tariff increase for Chinese goods during Trump’s second presidency to 104 percent.