Asian markets end in red on Monday

Asian equity markets ended in deep red on Monday as hawkish comments from several Federal Reserve officials, a sell-off in bond and oil markets, and renewed concerns about North Korea's nuclear test spooked investor sentiments. The probability for a September rate hike increased somewhat after Fed officials Eric Rosengren, Daniel Tarullo and Robert Kaplan signaled openness to a rate hike in 2016 to prevent the economy from overheating. North Korea is ready to carry out another nuclear test at any time, South Korea's defense ministry was quoted as saying today, a day after North Korea said it would take multi-step measures to strengthen its nuclear strike forces in response to the hostile US policy. Chinese shares dropped on worries that central banks may be running out of ammunition to support economic growth. Further, Japanese shares fell as increased risk aversion revived demand for the yen and media reports suggested that the Bank of Japan is studying several options to steepen the bond yield curve to encourage short and medium-term corporate lending. Markets in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia were closed in observance of Eid-ul-Adha.