Asia markets decline after IMF slashes 2019 growth outlook again

“Global risk sentiments are likely to take a backseat today after the IMF shaved its 2019 global growth forecast again from 3.5% to 3.3% (lowest since 2009),” analysts at OCBC Treasury Research said in a morning note.

Mainland Chinese stocks declined in early trade, with the Shanghai composite falling 0.84 percent and the Shenzhen component slipping about 0.51 percent. The Shenzhen composite also saw losses of 0.706 percent.

Meanwhile, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong declined 0.7 percent as shares of Tencent and HSBC declined.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.63 percent in morning trade as shares of index heavyweight Fanuc fell more than 0.7 percent. The Topix index also fell 0.79 percent.

South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.27 percent as industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics saw its shares decline about 0.75 percent, while chipmaker SK Hynix was up slightly by about 0.26 percent.

Over in Australia, the ASX 200 was largely flat. Later on Wednesday, the Australian central bank’s deputy governor is due to give a speech that analysts have pegged as being potentially significant.

Shares of Crown Resorts fell more than 8 percent after Wynn Resortsterminated discussions with the Australian gaming firm after the deal talks were leaked.

The International Monetary Fund slashed its global economic growth forecast once again on Tuesday, and said it expects the world economy to grow by 3.3% this year. That’s down from its previous outlook of 3.5%, which was also a downgrade. The IMF added that it expects the economy to expand by 3.6% in 2020, however.

“Higher trade policy uncertainty and concerns of escalation and retaliation would reduce business investment, disrupt supply chains, and slow productivity growth,” said the IMF. “The resulting depressed outlook for corporate profitability could dent financial market sentiment and further dampen growth.”

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both posted their worst session since March 22, while the Nasdaq Compositenotched its largest drop since March 27.

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.066 after declining below the 97.0 level in the previous session.

The Japanese yen traded at 111.09 against the dollar after touching highs around the 111.0 handle yesterday.

The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7113 after scaling highs above $0.714 in the previous session.

Oil prices advanced in the morning of Asian trading hours, as the international benchmark Brent crude futures contract gained fractionally to $70.65 per barrel and U.S. crude futures rose 0.2 percent to $64.11 per barrel.

— CNBC’s Thomas Franck and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.