Asia: Stocks down as World Bank forecasts cut and copper prices drop

Asian stocks slide on Wednesday following a slump in copper prices and news that the World Bank cut its forecast for global growth this year.

The stocks were affected by the continued decline in oil prices. Copper prices slumped nearly 6% to $2.49 a pound, falling to its lowest since 2009.

Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG said: "Copper has managed the impossible by shifting oil off the top of the commodities watch list. This sudden collapse in the metal by more than 5% has been triggered by the World Bank’s downgrade of global growth for 2015.

"Although off the top spot oil still remains in focus and the oversold stance in the commodity remains firmly in place."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.43% lower and China's Shanghai Index decreased 0.4% following news that the World Bank predicts global growth of 3% this year and 3.3% next year, below its June forecast of 3.4% and 3.5% respectively, amid weakness in Europe and China.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 1.71% due to a stronger yen against the dollar for the fourth day.

Japanese money supply in December grew by 2.9% year-on-year against forecasts of 3%, while machine tool orders growth eased to 33.8% from 36.6% previously.