Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region kicked off the week with steep declines Monday, as dismal jobs data from the United States, resurgent worries about European debt problems and some soft data from Asia reignited nervousness among global investors.

Source from New York Times

The U.S. jobs data, released Friday, showed that the U.S. economy had added no jobs in August, a hugely disappointing figure that renewed worries that the economy might be heading for a recession and led to falls of more than 2 percent on Wall Street on Friday.

Stock markets in Asia followed suit Monday, with declines of more than 2 percent on several leading indexes.

The Kospi in South Korea recorded the steepest declines in the region, ending the day down 4.4 percent.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong sagged nearly 3 percent and the Straits Times in Singapore fell 2.6 percent. The benchmark indexes in Australia and Taiwan finished 2.4 percent and 2.7 percent lower, respectively. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index fell 1.9 percent. Exporters like Sony, Panasonic and Sharp, which derive a large part of their earnings from sales in the United States and Europe, fell more than 3 percent.

The latest bout of turmoil prompted the financial regulatory agencies of China, Japan and South Korea to schedule a conference call for early Tuesday, the South Korean Financial Services Commission said in a statement Monday. The three countries will explore ways to strengthen their cooperation to deal with the uncertainty surrounding the United States and euro zone countries, the commission said in its statement.

Most developing Asian economies remain relatively buoyant and are not weighed down by the high sovereign debt levels that are haunting the United States and Europe and have caused fears of outright default in some smaller European economies.

Still, the financial markets in the region have been dragged down along with those in other parts of the world, while slower growth in the United States and Europe would undermine demand for Asian-made goods and services and hurt export-oriented companies in the region.

Recent data from across the region have shown that growth, while for the most part still robust, is softening as the global turmoil and higher interest rates in much of Asia take their toll.

Services-sector surveys for India and China on Monday reinforced this point. The China poll, published by HSBC, showed a reading of 50.6 in August, down from 53.5 in July. The reading for India dropped to 53.8 from 58.2 in July. Readings higher than 50 represent expansion, so activity in both cases remained positive. But the declines from the previous month, in both cases, were pronounced.

The Indian index “confirms that the effect of monetary tightening and high inflation is starting kick in, having a broader impact on the economy,” Leif Eskesen, chief India economist at HSBC, commented in a note Monday. “The weak global economic conditions have also spilled over through the trade and, particularly, the confidence channel.”

Analysts at Moody’s Analytics echoed this in a note Monday. Although manufacturers will benefit from improving trade and supply flows, they wrote, “weaker demand from the U.S. and Europe will take a toll on production in the second half of the year.”

Adding to investors’ jitters were fresh worries about the euro zone’s ability to respond cohesively to its debt crisis, after talks between Greece and its foreign creditors were put on hold Friday and the head of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, warned Italy to stick to its austerity program.

Stock markets in Europe tumbled Monday. By late morning, the benchmark indexes in Germany and France were 2.3 percent lower, and the market in Britain was down 1.3 percent.

The euro slipped to $1.414 in Asian trading, its lowest level against the dollar in about one month.

Futures on the S.&P. 500 were 0.7 percent lower by late afternoon in Asia. The U.S. market is closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

Gold, which tends to rise in times of uncertainty, traded at about $1,890 an ounce late in the Asian day, adding to sharp gains seen during U.S. trading Friday. ‘)}