Asian markets ended with deep losses Thursday after large declines on Wall Street sapped investors' risk appetite. Commodity and shipping stocks were hit the worst as investors sold down cyclical sectors, while NEC Electronics led a slump in Tokyo after a downbeat earnings report.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stumbled another 183.95 points, or 1.8%, to 9,891.10, finishing below 10,000 for the first time since Oct. 8 and after shedding at least 1.3% in each of the previous two sessions.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index plummeted 496.59 points, or 2.3%, to 21,264.99.
Metals and mining stocks were among Thursday's leading decliners across the region after commodity prices dropped sharply overnight in the face of U.S. dollar strength.
Nippon Light Metal lost 3.6% in Tokyo, Rio Tinto skidded 4.9% and Newcrest Mining fell 4.3% in Sydney.
Posco tumbled 5.1% and Korea Zinc shed 4.7% in Seoul.
Aluminum Corp. of China fell 6.4% and Jiangxi Copper lost 5% in Shanghai, and 3.3% and 2.4% respectively, in Hong Kong.
Hyundai Steel fell 5.8% after the company said it would cut hot-rolled-coil prices from Nov. 1 due to a drop in prices of steel scrap and imports, while SK Energy shed 2.7% on news of a 46% drop in third-quarter net income.
NEC Electronics sank 8.3% in Tokyo after its net loss for the fiscal second quarter widened from a year earlier and the company said it now expected a much wider loss for the full business year.
Advantest lost 6.6% after the memory-chip-testing systems specialist posted a net loss of 3.30 billion yen ($36.7 million U.S.) for the fiscal second quarter, as cost cuts and other steps failed to offset a slump in sales.
Several financials outperformed after a set of strong quarterly results across the region. Nomura Holdings gained 0.5% in Tokyo, and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. climbed 1.6% in Singapore trading.
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group rose 0.9% in Wellington and fell 2.1% in Sydney, but still outperformed the market and other major banks. ANZ's full-year net income fell 11%, but the bank showed increasing confidence that loan losses were beginning to stabilize.
Nine Dragons dropped 11.5% in Hong Kong, resuming trade after announcing it was raising $2.87 billion Hong Kong dollars ($370 million U.S.) through a share sale. In a weak Taipei market, Fubon Financial Holding fell 4.4% as investors grew impatient with the delay in the cross-Straits financial memorandum of understanding that many had expected to be signed soon.
CHINA
Real-estate developers tumbled in Shanghai on concerns about a potential decline in the number of property sales as Beijing's property-transaction tax-cut measures will expire at the end of the year. Beijing Huaye Real Estate fell 6% and Poly Real Estate shed 3.8%.
The Shanghai’s 300 Composite Index skidded 82.28 points, or 2.5%, to 3,247.05.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan’s Taiex index fell back 178.26 points, or 2.4%, to 7,355.69
Singapore’s Straits Times index gave back 16.67 points, or 0.6%, to 2,632.31
Korea’s Kospi index retreated 23.86 points, to 1.5%, to 1,585.85
New Zealand’s NZX Index finished 7.16 points, or 0.2%, in the red to 3,195.62
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 subtracted 110.40 points, or 2.4%, to 4,574.40
