Asia markets mostly fall after Wall Street extends declines; South Korea avoids technical recession

Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell Thursday after U.S. stocks dropped overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its worst day in more than a month.

In Asia, South Korea narrowly avoided a technical recession with its third-quarter GDP growing 0.1% quarter on quarter, following a 0.2% contraction in the second quarter. It, however, missed Reuters estimates of 0.5% growth.

On a year-on-year basis, South Korea’s economy grew 1.5%, also slower than the 2% increase expected by economists.

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi was down 0.15% after the GDP announcement, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.65%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 reversed losses to gain 0.13%, but the Topix lost 0.21%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.31%, also reversing losses.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.63% down, while mainland China’s CSI 300 saw a larger loss of 0.93%.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes fell, with both the Dow and S&P 500 notching their third straight losing session, weighed down by higher Treasury yields.

The S&P 500 lost 0.92%, and the 30-stock Dow plunged 0.96%. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.6%.