Asian shares retreated Thursday, deflated by steep profit declines at U.S. financial companies that sent Wall Street lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average led the region’s decline, shedding 1.1 percent to 10,440.00 as investors sold banking stocks.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5 percent to 2,105.23 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.8 percent at 4,799.5. Benchmarks in mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand also fell.
In New York Wednesday, stocks suffered their largest one—day decline since November after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said its earnings fell 53 percent in the last quarter. The company blamed a slowdown in its trading and investment banking businesses.
That pushed the Standard and Poor’s 500 down 13.1, or 1 percent, to 1,281.92. It was the biggest percentage drop in the benchmark index since Nov. 23.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 12.64 points, or 0.1 percent, to 11,825.2, performing better partly due to a large gain in IBM Corp. The Nasdaq composite fell 40.49, or 1.5 percent, to 2,725.36.
In currencies, the dollar eased to 82.19 yen from 82.21 yen late Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.3443 from $1.3438.
