Asian Markets Follow Wall Street’s Lead in a Broad Sell-Off<br />HONG KONG — Investors across Asia — from Hong Kong to Seoul, Tokyo to Shanghai — appeared to get the same memo on Friday morning: Sell.<br />The MSCI China stock index, which tracks shares of some of China’s biggest companies, is still<br />up nearly 50 percent since the beginning of last year even after the recent stock slump<br />The sell-off, which started earlier this week, was prompted by fears of rising inflation in the United States as strong data, including low unemployment<br />and high corporate profits, suggested the economy’s resilience.<br />Rising inflation could lead the Federal Reserve to raise its interest rates sooner than expected, setting off<br />a series of reactions around the globe as the cost of borrowing in American dollars would begin to rise.<br />Following drastic losses in the United States on Thursday, stock markets across the region fell deep into the red in morning trading.
