Tokyo — Asian stocks fell on Friday, with Chinese shares slipping to multi-month lows after Wall Street shares dropped again in the face of rapidly rising bond yields, while perceived havens such as the yen and Swiss franc were in demand. In addition to pressure from the drop in global shares, Chinese equities were weighed by factors such as investors attempting to stay liquid ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays and pressure to meet rising margin calls. The Shanghai Composite Index retreated 4.1% after slipping to its lowest since May 2017 and the blue chip CSI300 index was down 4.6%, after plumbing a six-month low. The slide resulted in Chinese stocks following their US counterparts into correction territory — a fall of 10% or more. China’s central bank said on Friday it released temporary liquidity of almost 2-trillion yuan ($316.11bn) to meet cash demand before the long Lunar New Year holidays. Japan’s Nikkei sagged 3.2%, en route for a weekly loss of 8.9%. MSCI’s broadest index...
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