Wall St. drags Asia lower
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Asian sharemarkets are posting big falls at midday Thursday, with South Korea down 2.5 percent after a plunge on Nasdaq.
Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong are also off sharply.
The Japanese market is closed Thursday for a national holiday.
In Australia, mining stocks have pushed the S&P/ASX200 down 1.3 percent by early afternoon, with BHP Billiton dropping 3 percent.
BHP and fellow miners Rio Tinto and Alumina, plus big steelmaker Bluescope, are off sharply on concerns that Chinese demand for metals may fall as China moves to cool its economy. (Full story)
Bluescope has slipped 6.2 percent to A$6.09.
In Seoul, the Kospi is off 2.54 percent to 878.99.
Market leader Samsung Electronics is 3.3 percent lower to 582,000 won and big exporter Hyundai Motors is down more than 3 percent to 44,950 won.
Leading chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor is off 2.2 percent to 11,000 won.
In Taiwan, the Taiex is 1.7 percent lower to 6462.91. Chip foundry UMC has slipped 4 percent to T$31.20 and larger rival TSMC is off 3.2 percent to T$60.00.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is 1.56 percent lower to 11,974.98, with China Mobile and Hutchison Whampoa both almost 2 percent down.
Singapore's Straits Times index is about 1 percent lower, led by a 3.1 percent fall to S$1.56 for chipmaker Chartered Semiconductor.
In New Zealand, where the central bank lifted interest rates by 0.25 percentage points Thursday to 5.5 percent, the Top 50 index is 0.5 percent lower to 2642.78. (Full story)
The declines among Asian techs follow the sharp selloff on Wall Street Wednesday which saw the Nasdaq close 2.1 percent lower to 1989.54. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 1.3 percent to 10,342.60. (Full story)
On Wednesday, Japanese stocks closed mixed as investors reacted to the latest industrial production figures and a swag of earnings reports. Techs such as Toshiba and Sony were big losers, but banks made solid gains.
The Nikkei 225 average finished down 0.34 percent to 12,004.29. The broader Topix was up 0.16 percent to 1206.92. That follows the Nikkei's 1 percent fall Tuesday, a day after the average closed at a 33-month high.