China World Trade Center.
Dukai Photographer | Moment Open | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets fell Tuesday, tracking Wall Street declines overnight after U.S. President Donald Trump made it clear that tariffs on Mexico and Canada would go into effect as planned.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index started the day 1.03% lower, while the broader Topix index was down 0.61%.
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 down 0.41% while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 1.43% 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 started the day 1.11% 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.
