PT: Asian stocks slide on US Fed move; Nikkei falls 2 pc
London/Mumbai, Feb 19 (PTI) Asian stocks tumbled today with most of the region's benchmark indices sliding at least one per cent, as investor sentiment was hit by the US Federal Reserve's move to hike interest rate on loans given to banks.
Right from Tokyo to Hong Kong, shares sailed southwards, while European stocks were trading flat in early trade.
Japan's Nikkei 225 plummeted over two per cent to 10,123.58 points while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slumped 2.59 per cent to 19,894.02 points.
After the American markets closed on Thursday, the Federal Reserve announced its decision to raise the discount rate -- the interest rate on loans disbursed to banks -- to 0.75 per cent from 0.50 per cent. The move comes in the backdrop of the US holding its key interest rate at near-zero levels for more than a year, to bolster the national economy.
