Japanese shares suffered their worst single day of declines in seven years Friday on heavy selling in exporters such as Canon Inc. and Honda Motor Co. as the yen continued to rally against major global currencies in the wake of turmoil in the global credit markets, and dragged other Asian markets with it.
In Tokyo, Nikkei 225 index fell 874.81 points to close at 15,273.68, its lowest finish in a year while in Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 1.38 percent, to 20,387.13.
Earlier Friday, Japan's central bank injected 1.2 trillion yen ($10.5 billion) into money markets -- the third injection this week and triple the amount it injected the day before -- in a bid to curb rises in key interest rates.
In Japan, a further fall of the dollar against the yen led stocks lower. A weak dollar hurts Japan's giant exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. by reducing the value of their overseas earnings when converted into yen. A weak dollar also makes Japanese exports more expensive abroad.
Toyota fell 7.2 percent to 6,190 yen Friday, and Sony fell 6.8 percent to 5,050.
Among other losers, Suzuki Motor Corp. fell 11 percent to 496 yen, and gamemaker Nintendo Co., which relies on overseas sales for much of its revenue, fell 9.7 percent to 46,700 yen.
ELSEWHERE:
BANGKOK: Thailand's main benchmark rose 1.0 percent to 758.42. Shares rebounded from lows when retail buying took over as the weight of selling by foreign institutions dissipated. It was the only stock index to gain Friday in Asia.
JAKARTA: Markets were closed for Indonesia's Independence Day.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's benchmark index on Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange fell 1.3 percent to 1,191.55 in heavy volume. It narrowed losses from an intraday low of 1,141.56 as selling pressure from hedge funds and forced-selling in margin accounts abated in late trade.
MANILA: Philippine's index fell 2 percent to 2,884.34, its lowest level since December 27.
MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark index -- the 30-share Sensex -- fell 217 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 14,142 points. Shortly after opening it dropped just over 4 percent to 13,779.88.
SEOUL: The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 3.2 percent to 1,638.07, its lowest level since May 21, when it closed at 1,628.20.
SHANGHAI: The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2.3 percent to 4,656.57 extending its 2.1 percent loss in the previous session.
SINGAPORE: Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index fell 3.7 percent to close at a five-month low of 3,152.16. During the session it fell as much as 5.2 percent before paring losses.
TAIPEI: The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange declined 1.4 percent to 8,090.29, its lowest level since May 18 and marking the fourth consecutive session of losses.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares ended the week sharply lower with the benchmark NZX-50 index closing down 1.6 percent to 3,894.34 in a rush of selling in the last hour of trading.
SYDNEY: Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7 percent to 5,671.0.
with files from other wire services
