Hong Kong and South Korean stocks tumbled to lead Asian markets lower Tuesday as fears about spreading European debt troubles rattled investors, hitting financial shares and exporters especially hard.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average let go of 143.61 points, or 1.4%, to 9,925.62
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index collapsed 684.07 points, or 3.1%, to 21,362.20, for its biggest one-day percentage drop since May 2010.
Stock losses quickened in late afternoon trading in Asia, with Hong Kong and Indian markets losing more ground, following media reports citing Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager as saying that a selective default of Greece was no longer excluded from the options being considered by the euro zone.
Steep early losses for Italian stocks also unnerved investors
Financial stocks bore the brunt of the selloff. In Tokyo, Shinsei Bank Ltd. gave up 2.3%, and Nomura Holdings Inc. lost 3.3%.
Macquarie Group Ltd. fell 6%, and National Australia Bank Ltd. shed 3.7% in Sydney. In Hong Kong, heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC dropped 3% and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. sank 4%.
Exporters in Japan and other markets were also among notable losers.
With European debt concerns rising, the euro weakened against the yen amid concerns that the crisis was spreading to other nations such as Italy. The European unit plunged to ¥110.55 by late afternoon in Hong Kong from its ¥114.90 level at the end of last week, which dragged Japanese exporters lower.
Sony Corp. dropped 3%, and Canon Inc. was off by 1.8%, shrugging off a report that showed sentiment for Japanese manufacturers returning to positive territory for the first time since the massive earthquake in March
Bucking the broader trend was Marcarthur Coal Ltd., with shares soaring 36.6% after Peabody Energy Corp. and ArcelorMittal made a 4.7-billion-Australian-dollar ($4.9 billion U.S.) bid for the coal miner.
Shares in News Corp. fell 4.6% as the News of the World phone-hacking scandal continued to weigh on the stock and threatened to stymie the company’s efforts to take full ownership of television broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC.
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index deducted 56.30 points, or 1.8%, to 3,056.91
Korea’s Kospi Index lost 47.43 points, or 2.2%, to 2,109.73
Taiwan’s Taiex Index tumbled 174.84 points, or 2%, to 8,491.01
Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 40.01 points, or 1.3%, to 3,077.36
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index dipped 3.76 points, or 0.1%, to 3,430.38
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index stumbled 86.90 points, or 1.9%, to 4,495.40
