Asian markets declined Monday, with South Korean, Hong Kong and Singaporean shares extending their decline on worries about the U.S. economy as trading resumed after the Lunar New Year holidays.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index sank 3.6 percent to 22,616.11.
The Tokyo stock market was closed for a national holiday and traders in China and Taiwan were still off for the Chinese New Year.
Shares of market heavyweight HSBC Holdings sank 4%, despite media reports that it is trying to find buyers for around half of its 800-branch network in France and shift focus to emerging markets.
Elsewhere:
South Korea's Kospi skidded 3.3% to 1,640.67.
Malaysia's KLSE Composite dropped 0.7% to 1,406.10.
Indonesia's JSX Composite gave up 2.2% at 2,580.12.
Singapore's Straits Times index declined 2.4% to 2,861.30, as trading resumed for the first time after last week's Lunar New Year Holidays.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index finished 1.1% lower at 3,572.93.
In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 sank 2.1% to finish at 5,537.60, after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised its 2008 forecast for core inflation to 3.5%, from its earlier projection of 3%, and said monetary policy was likely to be tightened. The revised forecast came a week after the RBA lifted its base lending rate by a quarter percentage point to a 11-year high of 7%.
with files from other wire services
