Asian stock markets ended down across much of the region Tuesday, as the yen's rise pressured exporter shares in Tokyo and knocked the Nikkei Stock Average into bear-market territory.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index surrendered 121.55 points, or 1.3%, to finish at 8,995.14, its lowest close since May 2009. Tuesday's close was 20.7% below its April 5 closing level of 11,339.3, fulfilling the technical definition of a bear-market trend.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled 230.30 points, or 1.1%, to 20,658.71
In Tokyo, exporters' stocks were lower as the Japanese yen rallied on word that no specific policy action had emerged from a Monday teleconference between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Masaaki Shirakawa, governor of the Bank of Japan.
The yen rose to nine-year high against the euro at ¥106.35 and a 15-year high against the dollar at ¥84.24. By comparison, the euro changed hands at ¥108.18 in late North American trading Monday, and the dollar was buying ¥85.30.
Against this backdrop, shares of Tokyo Electron shed 3.8%, Sony Corp. lost 3.7% and Canon Inc. fell 0.9%.
Defensive issues did better, with Astellas Pharma up 0.7% after a ratings upgrade from Credit Suisse.
In Australia, political uncertainty continued to cool the mood in the Sydney market.
While election results showing a hung parliament will "hit local markets for a time," the long-run impact will be small, said Capital Economics in a note.
Banks and resource stocks in particular were weighing on the market, with BHP Billiton losing 1.5%, Rio Tinto dropping 1.6% and Westpac trading down 2.9%. Some stocks also traded ex-dividend, further dragging Sydney's headline index lower.
Meanwhile, shares of Foster's Group dropped 4.3%, surrendering a portion of Monday's 7% rally on speculation about a potential bid or bids for its beer assets.
In Seoul, Hyundai Motor advanced 1.5% in a volatile session where shares moved between gains and losses a number of times.
In Hong Kong, shares in PCCW Ltd., the city's dominant fixed-line telephone operator, fell 9.8%.
The company said it would sell 1.3 billion Hong Kong dollars ($167 million U.S.) of new equity at a discount to repay existing debts and for general corporate purposes.
In New Zealand, NZ Farming Systems Uruguay surged 11% after Singapore's Olam International offered to buy all remaining NZ Farming shares for 70 New Zealand cents each ($0.49 U.S.), up from its previous offer of NZ$0.55 a share.
CHINA
Real estate developers led the rebound in China, helped by a Shanghai Securities News report that said the property market in Shenzhen got hot once again last week.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index inched forward 15.64 points, or 0.5%, to 2,911.83
Citing Shenzhen's Urban Planning, Land and Resource Commission, the report said that the volume of new homes sold in the city rose 72.4%, while prices gained 18.6% from a week ago.
Shares of China Vanke moved up 3.1%, while Poly Real Estate Group added 2.3%.
Elsewhere;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 3.14 points or 0.1%, to 2,922.85
Korea’s Kospi index gave back 7.18 points, or 0.4%, to 1,760.53
Taiwan’s Taiex Index moved down 35.29 points, or 0.4%, to 7,940.64
New Zealand’s NZX index improved 7.86 points, or 0.3%, to 3,024.64
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 47.70 points, or 1.1%, to 4,381.30
