New Delhi: Asian stock markets took a huge plunge Monday (April 7) as market sell-off tied to US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs continued. Exchange operators in Japan and Taiwan had to briefly call a halt to trading to pause panic selling as investors wagered the mounting risk of recession could see US interest rates cut as early as May. In Japan, the “circuit breaker” system paused trading for 10 minutes when the widely traded Nikkei 225 futures product was poised to fall more than 8 per cent. The circuit breaker was kicked in at 8:45 am Tokyo time for the Nikkei 225 and several other futures contracts, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. It ended 10 minutes later, without affecting the spot trading-direct buying and selling of shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. In early trade on Monday in Japan, the Nikkei 225 was off an eye-watering 6.5 percent, recovering somewhat after earlier falling nearly 9 per cent. Taiwanese stock operators also pulled a circuit breaker after experiencing a steep decline …