Investing.com - Asian stocks fell in morning trade on Tuesday after U.S. markets closed lower overnight. Nissan’s shares slumped over 4% following reports that its chairman Carlos Ghosn has been placed under arrest over financial misconduct.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 395.78 points, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.7%. The Nasdaq Composite slid 3% to close at 7,028.48.
In Asia, technology shares underperformed after the Financial Times reported Chinese regulators found "massive evidence" of antitrust violations by Samsung (KS:005930), SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU), which are the three largest memory-chip manufacturers in the world.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded 0.7% lower by 9:40PM ET (02:40 GMT). Automaker Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (T:7201) plunged 4.2% after announcing in an earlier statement on Monday that “over many years” chairman Carlos Ghosn and board director Greg Kelly had been under-reporting compensation amounts to the Tokyo Stock Exchange securities report.
"Numerous other significant acts of misconduct have been uncovered, such as personal use of company assets." The company said, adding that Ghosn had also made inappropriate investments.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component were both down 1.2% as traders awaited the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 1.5%.
Last Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he might not impose more tariffs on Chinese imports after Beijing sent a list of measures it was willing to take to resolve trade tensions.
However, reports on Monday said leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) failed to agree on a communiqué for the first time in history, as “the two big giants in the room” could not come to an agreement, according to Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, who chaired the meeting.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI and Australia’s ASX 200 both dropped 0.8%.