2013.06.2105:41:23UTC+00Asian stocks decline with Japan leading the drop after U.S. selloff

Asian stocks dive down on Friday action after the Federal Reserve’s plans to gradually wind down its bond purchases resulted in a second day of heavy declines on Wall Street and slammed prices of commodities.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average drifted 2.1%, and the broader Topix missed 2.5%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 pull back 0.9%, and South Korea’s Kospi gave up 2%.

The decline came after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index suffered its worst decline since November 2011 on Thursday after the Fed signalled it may soon downsize bond purchases under its quantitative-easing program.

Commodities also took a major hit, with gold futures moving back more than 6%, while U.S. benchmark crude-oil prices retreated nearly 3%.

For Asian equities, the drop was an extension of the sharp declines they suffered Thursday on a combination of worries, including fears related to downbeat manufacturing data from China and a sharp spike in interbank money-market rates in Shanghai.

“In combination, these factors mean that markets are bracing for the day that they no longer have steroid injections to keep them going. Instead, fundamentals will become important to sustain gains in risk assets,” said Crédit Agricole’s Asia head of global markets research Mitul Kotecha.

In Tokyo, shares of brewer Kirin Holdings Co. weaken by 8.6%, Hino Motors Ltd. sank 6.6%, and real-estate major Mitsui Fudosan Co. gave up 5.1% to rank among the big backsliders.

The U.S. dollar was fetching ¥97.22, after trading around ¥97 when the Tokyo stock market closed Thursday, but weaker than the ¥98 level it saw in European and U.S. trading.

The resource sector suffered further deep losses.

In Sydney, gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd. traded down 5.7%, Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. downtrend 2.1%, and uranium producer Paladin Energy Ltd. relinquished 4%.

In Tokyo, energy producer Inpex Corp. recorded a 2.5% loss, and steel maker JFE Holdings Inc. dive 6.9% down, and in Seoul, Korea Zinc Co. traded 5.5% lower.