MTS Help Center

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down by 0.6 percent with almost every sector in the red.

· Asian stocks shuddered lower on Friday after shockingly weak export data from China heightened market fears about a global economic slowdown, a day after European policymakers slashed growth forecasts for the bloc.

Beijing reported exports in February tumbled 20.7 percent from a year earlier, far beneath forecasts of a 4.8 percent drop and more than erasing January’s surprise jump.

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.0 percent and Australia 0.9 percent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan skidded 1.2 percent to a two-week trough.

· Japan’s Nikkei closed at a three-week low on Friday as downbeat views on European growth and poor China February export data sharply reduced risk appetites.

The Nikkei share average ended 2 percent down at 21,025.56, the lowest closing level since Feb. 15. It was the biggest one-day percentage fall since Feb. 8.

Shogo Maekawa, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management in Tokyo, said investors currently “are deeply worried about global economic slowdown.”

· Shanghai stocks plunged over 4 percent in their worst day in five months on Friday, as investors scrambled to take profit amid signs of tighter regulatory scrutiny after a recent market resurgence fuelled concerns of bubbles forming.

Sentiment was also dampened by poor economic data and weak global markets, though some investors see a correction in china’s market as good entry point.

The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 4.0 percent, to 3,657.58 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index ended down 4.4 percent at 2,969.86 points. Both indexes logged their worst session since Oct. 11.