Japan returned from a public holiday to be greeted with the news that China has ordered 6 of its major banks to increase reserves in order to put a slow to lending. The news affected global markets with the vast majority closing in the red on Tuesday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed down 200.24 points, or 2.09%, to 9,388.64.
The strength of the yen once again hit exporters in Japan. Shares of Sony Corp. fell 2.16%, Renesas Electronics Corp. gave up 2.6% after trading in positive territory a good portion of the morning, and Toyota Motor Corp. fell back 2% on the day.
Additionally, Honda Motor shed 2.0% and Mazda Motor slid 5%.
On a side note -- The U.S. dollar continues to make new 15-year lows against the yen.
Resources gave stocks in China a lift in Tuesday trading while bank stocks dropped.
ICBC dropped 1% and Bank of China dropped 1.5%.
Jiangxi Copper's Shanghai shares continued their rapid climb, adding another 6.1%, while Aluminum Corp. of China jumped 5.3%.
China Coal Energy gained 4.2% in Shanghai as well on Tuesday.
The Shanghai Composite closed up 34.47 points, or 1.23%, to 2,841.41.
The Hang Seng closed down dropping from its 2-year peak; losing 85.61 points to close at 23,121.70.
Elsewhere, the smaller markets were mostly down:
South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.06% to 1,868.04.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed down by 1.688% to 4,618.200.
India's Sensex dropped .67%.
Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell .84 points to 1,486.57.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index slid 1.50 points.
Shenzhen Composite gained .712% to 1,220.775.
Taiwan's Taiex lost 86.54 points.
Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped .44%.
New Zealand's NZX 50 closed down by .13%.
Philippine shares were down 1.239%.
Shares in Thailand fell .079%.
