The Wall Street crash causes a 2% decline in major Asia-Pacific markets.

On June 16, 2020, a pedestrian walked past a Tokyo Stock Exchange electronic quote board.

Wednesday saw a steep decline for stocks across Asia and the Pacific as Wall Street reacted negatively to a report showing that the August consumer price index in the United States was higher than predicted.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan sank by 2.78 per cent to 27,818.62, while the Topix index fell by 1.97 per cent to a value of 1,947.46.

Before a report stated the Bank of Japan conducted a "rate check," the yen value had been hovering around the 145 mark, its worst level since September 1998.

In the final minute of trading, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropped 2.33 per cent, while the Hang Seng Technology index dropped 2.68 per cent. The S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia fell 2.58 per cent, down to 6,828.60.

The South Korean Kospi dropped 1.56 per cent to 2,411.42; the won dropped below 1,390 versus the dollar, its lowest level against the greenback since March 2009.

Mainland, The Shanghai Composite, dropped 0.8% to 3,237.54, and the Shenzhen Component fell 1.247% to 11,774.78.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 2.26%.

The yield on 2-year U.S. Treasuries just hit 3.79 per cent, the highest level since 2007. Down 1,276.37 points or 3.94 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day at 31,104.97. The S&P 500 (-4.32%) and the Nasdaq Composite (-5.16%) closed the day lower than they had begun, at 3,932.69 and 11,633.57, respectively.

What's most worrisome is that the rise in core inflation is predominantly wage-driven in the service sector, as Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank.