Stocks in Asia mostly tumbled on Thursday following a plunge on Wall Street overnight.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 got drubbed, losing 822.45 points, or 3.7%, to 21,268.73
The Japanese yen, widely viewed as a safe haven currency, was at 112.07 against the dollar after strengthening from levels above 112.6 in the previous session.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dropped 255.32 points or 1%, to 24,994.46
Shares of Cathay Pacific were down 4% after dropping to a nine-year low earlier in the trading day.
The airline said that data of about 9.4 million passengers, including passport numbers and Hong Kong identity card numbers, were accessed without authorization
Korean markets plunged, with shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both declining by at least 3% each. The benchmark index was down more than 16% year-to-date, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data.
SK Hynix posted record third-quarter operating profit on Thursday, beating expectations due to a seasonal sales boost for mobile devices and strong server demand. Still, the company's shares fell 3%, paring some of its earlier losses.
Samsung shares were down 3.6%. The declines came after semiconductor stocks saw their worst day in nearly a decade on Wednesday.
Australian markets fell hard, with most sectors declining. The energy sub-index lost 2.7% while the heavily weighted financial sector was down 3%
Major banking stocks were down, with shares of ANZ falling 2.6%, Commonwealth Bank down 2.4% Westpac off by 2.5% and the National Australia Bank down 2.5%.
Shares of Australia's largest wealth manager AMP plunged 24.5% The decline followed after the company said that it would sell its life insurance arm at a discount.
Australian mining shares were also down, with Rio Tinto losing 4.5%, Fortescue off by 5.7% and BHP falling 4%
The Australian dollar was at $0.7055 U.S. after slipping from the 0.71 handle yesterday.
One market watcher said that nothing can stop the "bear run in October."
In other markets
The CSI 300 inched forward 6.11 points, or 0.2%, to 3,012.84
In Singapore, the Straits Times STI index slumped 19.24 points, or 0.6%, to 3,012.84
In Taiwan, the Taiex index plummeted 238.61 points, or 2.4%, to 9,520.79
In Korea, the Kospi index surrendered 34.28 points, or 1.6%, at 2,063.30
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 slid 74 points, or 0.9%, to 8,568.23
In Australia, the ASX 200 was hammered 164.96 points, or 2.8%, to 5,664.07
