New Delhi: Asian stock markets and U.S. futures fell Monday after the Federal Reserve slashed its key interest rate to shore up economic growth in the face of mounting global anti-virus controls that are shutting down business and travel.
Sydney's benchmark plunged 7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 2%. Shanghai was down 0.5% and Tokyo was flat.
Brent crude, the international oil standard, fell 3% while gold gained.
Japan's central bank was holding a policy meeting, convened several days earlier than planned.
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda has pledged to do whatever is needed to help buttress slumping economic growth after the economy contracted at a 7.1% annual rate in the last quarter, before the impact of the virus outbreak had even been felt.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was little-changed at 17,726.98. The Kospi in Seoul declined 0.2% to 1,767.55 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 lost 5.3% to 5,246.10.
Brent crude lost $1.01 to $32.84 per barrel in London. Benchmark U.S. crude tumbled 1.8%, or 56 cents, to $31.17 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Stock markets in the US continued a freefall on Monday as both Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P500 slumped over 7% lower circuit to trigger 15-minute halt in trading at the time of writing.
