Oil cast a cloud over Asian markets again yesterday after prices fell back below $30 a barrel, hammering energy firms once more and sending stocks deeper into the red. 
With the euphoria of Friday’s Bank of Japan stimulus but a distant memory, Tokyo led the regional losses followed by Hong Kong, where insurance giant AIA lost almost a tenth of its value at one point on fears China would tighten insurance rules. 
Despite the turmoil at home China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) yesterday offered to buy Switzerland’s Syngenta for $43bn, which would be a record overseas purchase by a Chinese firm. 
The plunge in oil prices to 12-year lows has sent shudders through world markets, helping wipe trillions of dollars off share valuations and even raising fears of recession. 
Crude resumed its downward trend this week, jettisoning most of the gains seen in a rally last week fuelled by hopes for Opec-Russian talks on output cuts. 
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crashed more than 11% on Monday and Tuesday to fall back through the $30 level for the first time since January 21. Brent lost almost 6% in the same period. 
Yesterday, early losses were pared on bargain-buying but dealers remain on edge ahead of a US report analysts warned could see a further increase in stockpiles. WTI was up 0.6% and Brent up 0.4% in late Asian trade. 
Oil prices have crumbled about 75% since mid-2014, hit by a perfect storm of weak demand, oversupply, overproduction, a slowing global economy and a strong dollar. 
After already taking a hit on Tuesday, regional energy stocks were buffeted again on Wednesday. 
In Hong Kong, CNOOC shed 4% in late trade and PetroChina dived 4.1% while Kunlun Energy sank 2.8%. 
Sydney-listed Santos lost 5.1% and mining giant BHP Billiton lost 4.4% while Woodside Petroleum fell 5%. 
The losses followed other big guns in New York and Europe. BP fell 8.7% in London after it announced a loss of $6.48bn last year and another 3,000 job cuts. Chief executive Bob Dudley warned: “We expect 2016 to be tough.” BP’s American rival ExxonMobil managed to stay profitable but reported a 58% drop in fourth-quarter earnings and announced plans to slash its capital budget and suspend its share repurchase programme. 
“The underlying fundamentals are deteriorating and the talk of recession is getting louder,” Chris Weston, chief market strategist in Melbourne at IG, told Bloomberg News. 
“When you see BP coming out with disastrous results and when you see Exxon cutting back on expenditures again, you realise the implication weak oil has on economies.” 
Tokyo’s Nikkei index sank 3.2% by the close, Hong Kong closed down 2.3%, Sydney ended 2.3% lower and Seoul shed 0.9%. Shanghai had slipped 0.4% by the end. 
There were also losses across all other Asian markets. 
In early European trade London slipped 0.2%, Frankfurt dropped 0.4% and Paris lost 0.1%. 
Hong Kong-listed insurance giant AIA lost almost 10% at one point in the morning following a Bloomberg News report that China would clamp down on the purchase of overseas cover. 
However, it halved the losses in the afternoon to end 4.9% down. Manulife, another Hong Kong-listed insurer, shed more than 5%. Also in Hong Kong Lenovo, the world’s biggest PC maker, plunged more than ten% after posting its first fall in quarterly sales for six years in October-December, on the back of weak demand for mobile phones and computers. 
ChemChina’s listed units soared on the takeover news. Fertiliser firm Cangzhou Dahua soared by its 10% daily limit in Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed Guangxi Hechi Chemical also jumped 10%. 
Tokyo - Nikkei 225 down 3.2% at 17,191.25 points; Hong Kong - Hang Seng fell 2.3% at 18,991.59 points and Shanghai – Composite down 0.4% at 2,739.25 points at the close yesterday.