Asian shares slumped on Monday after sluggish U.S. jobs data deepened worries about slowing global economic growth, and reinforced risk aversion ahead of China inflation figures and a meeting aimed at defining steps to shore up Europe’s banks. The euro fell to a two-year low of $1.2225 in early Monday Asian trade, while commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar, typically indicative of risk appetite, hit one-week lows. U.S. employers added 80,000 new jobs in June, below 90,000 forecast. While the data was seen as not strong enough to prompt any immediate action, it boosted the chances of the Federal Reserve launching a new round of monetary stimulus to boost growth, a poll showed. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 percent after rising 1.6 percent for the first week of the third quarter, and Japan’s Nikkei average opened down 1.1 percent. The price of 10-year Japanese government bond futures jumped to their highest since October 2010. The weak U.S. nonfarm payrolls report pushed U.S. stocks down about 1 percent and European shares to post their worst one-day fall in around two weeks on Friday. Borrowing costs in Spain topped the critical 7 percent level and while those for Italy surged.
