Brokers said the sell-off was triggered by worries China\'s first-quarter GDP data, due to be released later in the day, will show the economy continued to expand at a rapid clip, triggering additional efforts by the government to slow growth.
Everybody fears what is happening in China, said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. Everybody believes the economic data will show that the economy is growing too fast, and that China will introduce more stringent austerity measures; I think they will move to control loan growth, raise interest rates and things like that.