China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 6.5% on Wednesday after the government unexpectedly tripled duties charged on stock trades, the latest in a series of official steps taken to cool speculative activity and head off what many believe is a runaway equity-market bubble.
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index slid 0.48 percent to 17,588.26 while in Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 175.83 points, or 0.9 percent, to 20,293.76.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 6.5 percent at 4,071.27 after hitting a record high on Tuesday.
The declines came after the Finance Ministry tripled the ''stamp tax'' on stock trades from 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent, effective Wednesday. The ministry was trying to ''cool (the) stock market,'' the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Shares of brokerage companies were among the most heavily traded issues, a sign of worries that the tariff hike would tamp down trading revenues and cut into the industry's earnings. Shares of China Citic Securities and Hong Yuan Securities both plunged 10%, the maximum allowable decline in a session.
Elsewere:
MANILA -- Philippine shares declined Wednesday, spooked by a region-wide retreat following China's move to raise stamp duty on share trades. The benchmark 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 54.07 points, or 1.6 percent, at 3,398.55, after rising 0.3 percent Tuesday.
TAIPEI -- Taiwan shares fell in light trading Wednesday on worries about a trading tax in China.
The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange fell 34.15 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 8,147.34.
With files from wire services
