Japan's Nikkei index, reflecting the share price fluctuations of 225 leading Japanese companies, fell by 12.4% by the close of the August 5 trading session.

Local observers note that this decline occurred amid investor concerns about a possible recession in the United States and the strengthening of the yen against the dollar.

At the end of the trading session, the Nikkei index lost 4,451.28 points, dropping to 31,458.42 points. This marks a historical low, surpassing the "Black Monday" crash of 1987, when the Nikkei lost 3,836.33 points during trading.

According to Russia’s Tass News Agency, sources in Tokyo were attributing the drop to fears of a possible recession in the US after employment data late last week failed to meet market expectations.

The Nikkei index had already dropped by 5.8% on August 2 following weak US manufacturing data for July.

Speaking on behalf of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the Japanese government would not comment on the stock market, but that it is closely monitoring the situation.

Another factor contributing to the decline is the strengthening of the national currency, which is unfavourable for large exporters. On Monday, the yen's rate reached around 142.6 yen per dollar.

The main index of the Taiwanese stock exchange, TAIEX, also fell by 8.35% to 19,830.88 points. According to the smaller but leading Asian trading platform, this is the lowest value of the indicator since April 23, 2024.

The decline of the index by 1,807.21 points in one trading session was a record fall in the history of the exchange.

In the case of Taiwan, however, there have been indications investors were growing nervous in recent weeks with a number of key industries seeing numbers drop steadily.