Publications
Partners
Hon Kong - Asian stocks dropped on Friday, after US President Barack Obama said he had authorised air strikes against Sunni extremist militants in Iraq as concerns grew about the security situation there.
Tokyo fell 3.14% by lunch, Hong Kong slipped 0.33% and Sydney was down 1.05% in morning trade. Seoul also dipped 1.14% while Shanghai was flat.
"It's risk off across the board now," Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA Asia Pacific told Dow Jones Newswires.
"The market is very thin and highly reactive to overseas inputs," Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities, added.
In Malaysia, the majority shareholder of ailing Malaysia Airlines said the firm is to be de-listed and taken private ahead of a major restructure following the twin disasters of flights MH370 and MH17.
Khazanah Nasional, which owns 70% of the carrier, said it would purchase all minority shares in the firm.
In the US, The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 75.07 points (0.46%) at 16 368.27.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 10.67 (0.56%) to 1 909.57, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 20.08 (0.46%) at 4 334.97.
Brent Schutte, market strategist at BMO Global Asset Management, said Thursday's losses on Wall Street were "completely" due to a sharp worsening of conditions in Iraq.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei's tumble below the psychologically important 15 000 level came as the yen - seen as a safe-haven currency in times or turmoil or uncertainty - shot up in forex markets.
On the currency markets, the dollar sank to ¥101.65 in midday Tokyo trading, compared with ¥102.09 in New York late Thursday, while the euro also dropped to ¥135.82 from ¥136.4.
In oil trade, the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose 35 cents to $97.69 while Brent for September gained 67c to $106.11 in mid-morning trade.
Gold fetched $1 316.10 an ounce by 03:10 GMT compared with $1 305.20 late on Thursday.
