MW: Stocks, commodities drop in Asia; yen, dollar up
By V. Phani Kumar
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Several Asian stock market indexes slumped more than 2% Friday after European markets suffered heavy losses the previous day. In foreign exchange markets, the yen rose against major rivals, while the U.S. dollar index (DXY 75.16, +0.34, +0.45%) also climbed against major currencies other than the yen, signaling heightened risk aversion. The dollar's rebound hurt commodity prices such as gold and crude oil, leading to a pullback in shares of resource producers. In the stock markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 Average was recently down 2.1% at 9,190.29, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index losing 3.5% and China's Shanghai Composite down 1.1%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 3%, India's Sensex gave up 2.1%, South Korea's Kospi lost 3.2% and Taiwan's Taiex shed 2.5%.
