Asian indexes declined sharply Monday in the wake of a sell-off on Wall Street, with Hong Kong stocks suffering heavy losses on financials such as Bank of China as well as resource shares such as China Shenhua Energy Co.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei Stock Average fell 2.2 percent at 16,438.47, its lowest finish since late September. The broader Topix index lost 1.8 percent at 1,563.07.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dropped 3.7 percent to 28,373.63, as trading resumed after an extended holiday weekend. The 43-issue Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gave up 4.6 percent at 18,808.98.
Shares of technology exporters were hit in the broad-based decline, with Advantest Corp. losing 4.6 percent and Kyocera Corp. dropping 4.1 percent.
Shares of Toyota dropped 2.1 percent after media reports said the company trailed General Motors Corp. in global automobile sales during the first nine months of 2007, after taking a slender lead over GM to at the end of the six-month period ended Jun. 30.
In Tokyo, shares of brewer Kirin Holdings Co. declined 2.8 percent on reports it plans to bid for control of drug maker Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Shares of Hakko Kogyo lost 1.7 percent.
ELSEWHERE:
MUMBAI: India's Sensex fell 0.4 percent to 17,490.99, unable to sustain early gains after it rose as high as 17,704.83 during the session.
SEOUL: South Korea's Kospi tumbled 3.4 percent to 1,903.81.
SINGAPORE: The Straits Times index lost 2.6 percent at 3,647.15.
TAIPEI: Taiwan's Weighted index sank 2.6 percent to 9,360.63.
SYDNEY: Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.9 percent to 6,577.30.
with files from other wire services
