HONG KONG — Global markets continued to plunge on Monday, with stocks across Asia opening sharply lower.
Investors' concerns over China's slowdown and a souring view of once-favored emerging economies have rattled financial markets around the world in recent days, and showed no signs of letting up on Monday.
The selling accelerated in China's stock markets, which have slumped in recent weeks despite extraordinary government intervention to prop up prices. The main Shanghai share index opened 4 percent lower, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index was more than 3 percent lower in early trading.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index was 2 percent lower by midmorning, while Australia's main index was down around 2 percent in late morning trade.
Most Asian currencies fell against the dollar, including the Malaysian ringgit, which plunged 1.6 percent in morning trading. The Japanese yen, considered a regional safe haven currency, rose against the dollar for the fourth day in a row.
Investors in Asia were reacting to the steep sell-off on Wall Street on Friday, when the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted by 3.1 percent, threatening to end a breathtaking six-year rally in United States stocks.
The rout has deepened globally as uncertainties have increased over the health of China's economy, previously a major engine of global growth. The surprise devaluation on Aug. 11 of China's currency, the renminbi, raised concerns that the country's slowdown could be worse than previously appeared.
On Friday, new data showed China's manufacturing industry contracted in the first three weeks of August at the fastest pace since the depths of the financial crisis, sending stocks in Shanghai down 4.3 percent.
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