Asia-Pacific markets lower as IMF downgrades growth forecast for the region
Shares in Asia-Pacific declined in Thursday morning trade, as the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday downgraded its growth forecast for Asia-Pacific.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped 0.46% in early trade while the Topix index fell 0.69%. Shares of ANA Holdings dropped more than 3% following reports that the airline is set to post multi-billion dollar losses for the fiscal year to March. Japan Airlines also saw its stock decline 2.5%.
South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.77%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia fell, with the S&P/ASX 200 down more than 1%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.34% lower.
The IMF on Wednesday downgraded its forecast for Asia-Pacific to -2.2% in 2020 — “the worst outcome for this region in living memory.”
“Our latest Regional Economic Outlook shows that a recovery started in the third quarter, but growth engines are not all firing with the same power across countries, leading to a multispeed recovery,” Jonathan D. Ostry, acting director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the IMF, wrote in a blog post.
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Eng