Tokyo (Nikkei Average NIK, -0.72% ) down 0.6%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index HSI, -0.80% ) down 0.7%
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite IndexSHCOMP, -0.94% ) down 1.2%
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -1.38% ) down 1.3%
Seoul (Kospi SEU, -0.84% ) down 0.8%
Taipei (Taiex Y9999, -0.67% ) down 0.8%
Asian stocks buckled while the US dollar held firm in early Monday trade after strong US jobs data fanned expectations that the US Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than previously thought.
Japan's Nikkei fell 0.7 per cent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.5 per cent.
The US Labor Department said on Friday that US employers added 295,000 workers in February, beating a forecast of 240,000. It marked the longest run of 200,000-plus increases since 1994.
THE Straits Times Index (STI) fell 27.65 points, or 0.8 per cent, early on Monday to 3,389.86 in the wake of Wall Street's tumble before the weekend, when strong US jobs data raised concerns of earlier-than-expected interest rate hikes.
A total of 65 million shares worth S$128.7 million changed hands as at 9:01am. Losers outpaced gainers 107 to 41.
The most active stocks out of the gate were Noble Group, down 2.4 per cent or 2.5 Singapore cents to S$1.03 as at 9:02am, and Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, down 0.7 per cent or 0.5 Singapore cent to 69 Singapore cents.
