Asian stocks fell sharply Wednesday, weakening in the face of Wall Street's sharp pullback overnight.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index lost 274.66 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to finish at 16,012.83 while in Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 343.16 points, or 1.5 percent, to 23,020.6.
Losers included blue chip auto and electronics shares. Sony Corp. fell 2.79 percent to 5,230 yen (US$45.88; euro33.58), and Toyota Motor Corp. dropped 1.95 percent to 6,530 yen (US$57.28; euro41.92).
Banks and steel shares also fell. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. dropped 0.56 percent to 710,000 yen (US$6,228.07; euro4,558.01), and Nippon Steel Corp. dropped 1.49 percent to 793 yen (US$6.96; euro5.09).
ELSEWHERE:
SEOUL: South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.2% to 1,826.19.
SHANGHAI: The Shanghai Composite ended 1.6% lower at 5,109.43, registering its first decline after tallying record closing highs in each of the previous seven sessions.
TAIPEI: Taiwan's Weighted index dropped 1% to 8,643.32.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand's NZX 50 index declined 0.4% to 4,084.17.
SYDNEY: Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.2% at 6,100.30.
with files from other wire services
