Asia-Pacific stocks largely fell in Wednesday trade following an overnight tumble on Wall Street, with the NASDAQ plunging nearly 3% as bond yields rise.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 plummeted 639.67 points, or 2.1%, to 29,544.29.
The Japanese yen traded at 111.21 per U.S. dollar, stronger than an earlier low of 111.68 seen against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 163.11 points, or 0.7%, to 24,663.50.
Hong Kong-listed shares of China Evergrande Group surged 15% after the developer announced it will sell a $1.5-billion stake in Shengjing Bank to a state-owned asset management firm.
Chinese tech shares in Hong Kong also declined, with Tencent shedding 1.02% and Alibaba slipping 1.72%.
Shares of Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group fell 1.5% and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics dropped 2.9%.
The Australian dollar was at $0.725 after yesterday drop from above $0.729.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 lost 49.9 points or 1%, to 4,833.93
In Korea, the Kospi dropped 37.65 points, or 1.2%, to 3,060.27.
In Taiwan, the Taiex slumped 325.98 points, or 1.9%, to 16,855.46.
In Singapore, the Straits Times docked 3.38 points, or 0.1%, to 3,060.27
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 shed 54,59 points, or 0.4%, to 13,119.79
In Australia, the ASX 200 backed off 78.84 points, or 1.1%, at 7,196.71
