Asia markets fell on Tuesday, with Japanese shares dropping sharply, tracking declines on Wall Street overnight on jitters over a new immigration measure taken by the Trump administration.
The Nikkei 225 Index plummeted 327.51 points, or 1.7%, to 19,041.34, after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept its monetary policy steady as expected on Tuesday.
The Japanese currency rose against the greenback from levels near 113.68 before the BOJ's decision to around 113.48 late afternoon Tuesday, and stronger than levels near 115.20 touched in the previous week.
The BOJ kept its policy stance unchanged, but raised its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to 1.4% for the current fiscal year ending March 31, from a previous prediction of 1% growth made in October. The BOJ said in its policy statement it expected inflation to rise to around its target of 2% by fiscal 2018.
The yen's strength on Tuesday sent stocks lower across the board, with export stocks selling off.
Shares of Toyota closed down 1.8%, Honda fell 2.8%, Nissan was down 1.5%, Sony was off by 2.3% and Fujitsu was down 4.8%
Nintendo shares finished down 1.9% as investors looked ahead to the Japanese gaming giant's nine-month earnings results due after the Tokyo market close.
Elsewhere, government data released Tuesday morning showed Japanese household spending fell 0.3% in December from a year earlier, less than the median estimate of a 0.6% decline. Meanwhile, seasonally adjusted jobless rate was flat at 3.1% in December, in line with an estimate of experts, while industrial output rose 0.5% in December from a month earlier.
In company news, shares of NEC dropped 17.4% after the Japanese communications equipment maker slashed its profit outlook for the year ending March 31 to 30 billion yen ($264 million U.S.) from an earlier prediction of 100 billion yen
In other markets
Markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taiwan were shuttered for holiday
In Korea, the Kospi index returned from a long weekend to dock 16.02 points, or 0.8%, to 2,067.57
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index fell 18.05 points, or 0.6%, to 3,046.80
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 subtracted 34.81 points, or 0.5%, to 7,050.75
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 39.32 points, or 0.7%, to 5,675
