Asian stocks were downbeat on Monday, with Japan's Nikkei losing ground as banking shares such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group declined. Australian markets faced heavy selling pressure from commodity stocks such as BHP Billiton.
Tokyo's main Nikkei Stock Average ended down 264.72 points, or 1.7 percent at 15,249.79, while the more-inclusive Topix index fell 1.9 percent to 1,472.70.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended down 3.5 percent, shedding 566.07 points to 26,690. The China Enterprises Index, or shares of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong, retreated 3.6 percent to 15,391.39.
In Tokyo, shares of Mitsubishi UFJ fell 4.2 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp's shares dropped 3.7 percent and Mizuho Financial Group lost 5 percent.
In Hong Kong, shares of Cheung Kong Holdings fell 5.7 percent while Sun Hung Kai Properties lost 6.5 percent. Hong Kong decliners also included China Mobile, down 2.8 percent. Shares of oil major Cnooc fell 4.8 percent.
Mumbai-listed Tata Motors fell 3.4 percent in late trading after the group was reportedly the preferred bidder to acquire the Jaguar and Land Rover automotive units from Ford Motor Co.
Nippon Oil, Japan's largest refiner by capacity, saw its shares climb 2.7 percent after the company said Friday it purchased a 40 percent stake in an offshore oilfield in Thailand from a unit of the country's state-owned oil company.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. led drug makers lower on reports the Japanese government plans to reduce drug prices by 1 percent next year. Shares of Takeda fell 1.7 percent.
ELSEWHERE:
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's KLSE lost 1 percent.
MUMBAI: India's Sensex was off 1.9 percent.
JAKARTA: Indonesia's benchmark JSX Composite eased 2.8 percent.
SEOUL: South Korea's Kospi index fell 2.9 percent.
SINGAPORE: The Straits Times Index was down 2.6 percent.
TAIPEI: Taiwan's Weighted Price index shed 3.5 percent.
SYDNEY: Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 3.5 percent to 6,263.50.
with files from other wire services
