Stock market today: Asian shares sink as jitters over Chinese markets prompt heavy selling

Shares fell Tuesday in Asia, with Hong Kong’s benchmark down nearly 2%, as jitters over Chinese markets dimmed confidence across the region. U.S. markets were closed Monday, leaving investors without cues from overnight trading. Early Tuesday, the future for the S & P 500 was 0.4% lower, and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell, snapping a New Year’s winning streak that took it to its highest level in 34 years. It fell 0.7% to 35,645.18. The dollar weakened against the Japanese yen even as a former central bank official said that the Bank of Japan is preparing to end its longstanding negative interest rate policy.

The dollar bought 146.18 yen, up from 145.75 late Monday and its highest level in more than one month. The question of when and how the BOJ might extricate itself from more than a decade's worth of extreme monetary easing that has kept its benchmark rate at minus 0.1% has hung over the market for months.

Speculation over its game plan for changing it strategy has flared especially after the Federal Reserve and other central banks hiked rates sharply to help snuff out inflation that soared as economies recovered from the shocks of the pandemic. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 1.9% to 15,904.27 and the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.6% to 2,868.30.

Investors were selling stocks of technology and property companies. Online food delivery company Meituan dropped 3.2% and games company Tencent lost 2.7%. Financially troubled property developer China Garden Holding lost 5.6% and Sino Ocean Group Holding plunged 8.1%. China is due to provide an update in its economy on Wednesday that economists forecast will show annual growth at 5.3% in the last quarter, up from 4.9% in July September.

Most forecasts suggest growth will slow in the world's second largest economy this year, as Beijing continues to grapple with a crisis in its property sector and tepid consumer demand. IMF head Kristalina Georgieva warned Monday in an interview with CNBC that unless China enacts reforms to help spur more spending, it might face a “significant decline in growth rates going under 4%.” Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.7% to 2,508.40 and the S & P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 1.2% to 7,410.10.

European markets had a downbeat start to the week. Germany's DAX lost 0.5% to 16,622.22 as the government reported that the economy contracted by 0.3% in 2023 from a year earlier. The CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.7% to 7,411.68. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.4% to 7,594.91. In the U.S., stocks have been roaring toward records for months, pulling the S & P 500 within 0.3% of its all time high, on hopes that inflation is cooling enough for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times this year.

Easier rates and yields relax the pressure on the economy and financial system, while boosting prices for investments. Traders are largely betting on the Fed cutting its main interest rate six or more times through 2024. That would be a much more aggressive track than the Fed itself has hinted. It's even cautioned it could raise rates further if inflation refuses to buckle convincingly toward its target of 2%.

The federal funds rate is already at its highest level since 2001. In other trading, a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 11 cents to $72.57 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 66 cents to $72.68 on Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, advanced 14 cents to $78.29 per barrel.

The euro fell to $1.0916 from $1.0952..