Nikkei 225 slumps over -2.5%, risk-off at full steam

A classic risk-off theme persists in the Asian session at the start of a brand new week, as upcoming central banks’ events, mounting Brexit fears and weekend’s Orlando bombings fuelled a fresh risk-aversion wave across the financial markets and almost killed the demand for risky assets.

According to a latest poll from Opinium, there is a huge lead for Brexit, while over the weekend some 50 people were shot dead in Orlando, Florida early by the members of the terrorist group ISIS. Moreover, the Fed and BOJ policy meetings remain in the spotlight this week and hence, keep markets unnerved.

Nikkei plunges on increased JPY demand

The Japanese benchmark index, the Nikkei 225 dives -2.61% to 16,168 levels, as USD/JPY sinks to fresh five-week lows just ahead of 106 handle, now losing -0.72%.

While the Chinese equities also remains on the back foot amid sluggish Chinese economic releases, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index dropping -0.86%, the CSI300 index trades -0.84%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slides -2.40%.

The Australian markets are closed in observance of the Queen's Birthday.