Asian markets tumbled Monday, with Japanese stocks hurt by exporters such as Honda Motor Co. as the dollar weakened further against the yen, while steelmakers such as Nippon Steel Corp. dropped on concern that its annual profit could fall below an earlier forecast.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged 4.5 percent to close at 12,992.18. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed down 3.1 percent to close at 23,584.97.
Shares of Toyota lost 3.3% and Honda Motor Co. slumped 5.8%, while Nikon Corp. sank 7.2%.
Shares of steelmakers tumbled after the Nikkei business daily reported in its Sunday edition that Nikkei Steel is expected to fall short of its group pretax profit forecast for the year ending March 31. The steelmaker had initially projected a 0.4% increase in profit to 600 billion yen ($5.82 billion). Nippon Steel stock dropped 6.8%, while JFE Holdings Inc. lost 8.7%.
China's Shanghai Composite rebounded from early lows and finished 2.1% higher at 4,438.27, on reports that the Chinese regulators Friday approved the creation of more mutual funds to strengthen the market.
Elsewhere:
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 3% to 5,405.80, South Korea's Kospi gave up 2.3% to 1,671.73.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index was little changed at 3,584.26.
Taiwan's Weighted index dropped 1.8% to 8,262.87.
with files from other services
