Stocks fell, and the Japanese yen approached 150 against the dollar

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region traded lower on Thursday as economic concerns weighed.

The Hang Seng Index In Hong Kong, it was down 2.7% after briefly dropping 3% in early trade, its lowest level since May 2009. Hang Seng Tech was down more than 4%.

Kelvin Tay, UBS’s chief regional investment officer, said the sharp drop in Hong Kong markets was due to the “unprecedented government silence on key economic indicators”.

“This is largely due to concerns about the economic outlook and the escalation of COVID-19 cases in the middle of the party congress in Beijing,” he said.

in Japan , Nikkei 225 It lost 1.2% and the Topix index fell 0.68%. The S & P / ASX 200 In Australia it fell by 1.13%.

Mainland China Shanghai boat 0.94% and Shenzhen Component It declined by 1.265%.

South Korea Cosby The KOSDAQ Index is down 1.27% and is down 1.55%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan is down 1.68%.

The Maritime yuan It touched a record low against the dollar overnight, and fell to 7.2745 per dollar. It was last traded at 7.2690. The Japanese Yen It reached a new 32-year low of 149.95 against the dollar.

US stocks fell as Treasury yields rose on Wednesday in the US, with the Standard return for 10 years It touched 4.138%, the highest level since July 23, 2008.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.85% to close at 10,680.51, while the S&P 500 fell 0.67% to 3,695.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 99.99 points, or 0.33%, to end the day at 30,423.81.

CNBC’s Cherie Kang, Jesse Pound and Tanya Machel contributed to this report.