Stock market today: Asian shares sink as jitters over Chinese markets prompt heavy selling

Shares have fallen in Asia, with Hong Kong's benchmark down nearly 2%, as jitters over Chinese markets dim confidence across the region

BANGKOK -- Shares fell Tuesday in Asia, with Hong Kong’s benchmark down nearly 2%, as jitters over Chinese markets dimmed confidence across the region.

U.S. markets were closed Monday, leaving investors without cues from overnight trading. Early Tuesday, the future for the S&P 500 was 0.4% lower, and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3%.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell, snapping a New Year’s winning streak that took it to its highest level in 34 years. It fell 0.7% to 35,645.18.

The dollar weakened against the Japanese yen even as a former central bank official said that the Bank of Japan is preparing to end its longstanding negative interest rate policy. The dollar bought 146.18 yen, up from 145.75 late Monday and its highest level in more than one month.

The question of when and how the BOJ might extricate itself from more than a decade's worth of extreme monetary easing that has kept its benchmark rate at minus 0.1% has hung over the market for months. Speculation over its game plan for changing it strategy has flared especially after the Federal Reserve and other central banks hiked rates sharply to help snuff out inflation that soared as economies recovered from the shocks of the pandemic.