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.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was the notable outlier, reversing losses to gain 0.1% and close at 38,143.29, but the Topix lost 0.05% and ended at 2,635.57.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.12% to 8,206.3.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 1.35% down in it’s final hour of trading, while mainland China’s CSI 300 saw a larger loss of 1.12% and closed at 3,928.83, snapping a four day winning streak.

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%.