Kospi craters 6.47% as Asia-Pacific markets bleed red

Asia-Pacific equities are getting pounded. At 2:52 am CET, Japan's Nikkei 225 had slid 5.78%, South Korea's Kospi Composite had dropped 6.47%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng had slipped 0.53%. A minute later, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 4.36%.

Mainland China was the relative bright spot — relatively being the operative word. The Shanghai Composite fell 1.38%, while the Shenzhen Composite traded 2.06% lower at 2:54 am CET. That's a bruising, but nowhere near the double-digit-style pain showing up in Seoul and Tokyo.

In currency markets, the US dollar edged 0.07% higher against the yen, changing hands at ¥157.91700 at 2:55 am CET. The yen hovering just shy of the ¥158 mark keeps the pressure on Japanese exporters' currency math.

The damage in Seoul isn't coming out of nowhere. In a session roughly 20 hours earlier, the Kospi had already plunged 5.37% while other regional indexes traded mixed, according to Breaking The News' earlier coverage. That makes this a second heavy leg down rather than a one-off wobble.

What set off the selling isn't spelled out in the report — no single catalyst was identified for the across-the-board drop. With the Nikkei, Kospi and ASX all taking hits of 4% or more while China's benchmarks absorbed smaller losses, traders are clearly repricing risk fast across the region.