Major Asian stock markets edged lower today. South Korea’s Kospi index nosedived nearly 7.6 per cent, dragged by chip heavyweights. Japan’s Nikkei 225 tanked 4.9 per cent, Taiwan’s Taiex shed 3.4 per cent, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.6 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped one per cent, and Singapore’s Strait Times slipped almost 0.4 per cent.
 
In European markets, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.4 per cent, while London’s FTSE 100 added 0.7 per cent, when reports last came in.