Chinese shares in Shanghai suffered big losses Thursday to pull the benchmark stock index down to less than half of the past year's record high. The drop came in spite of economic data, which showed that inflation eased in May, as investors worried the relief was only temporary.
The key Nikkei 225 index closed down 294.88 points or 2.08% at 13,888.60.
Stocks declined across the board, led by iron and steel, sea transport and insurance issues. Nippon Steel shed 4.8% and JFE Holdings plunged 6.7%. Nippon Yusen dropped 4.6%, Kawasaki Kisen slumped 5.6% and Mitsui OSK Lines fell 4.8%. Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance lost 1.5%, Sompo Japan Insurance plummeted 5.3% and Millea Holdings tumbled 3.4%.
Among exporters, Toyota Motor shed 2.7%, Honda Motor lost 2.1%, Nissan gave away 2.1% and Sony dropped 2.8%. In the banking space, Mizuho Financial Group fell 3.1%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group declined 1.3% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group dropped 2.8%. Top brokerage Nomura Holdings declined 2.2%.
The Chinese market closed lower for the seventh straight session Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai composite index slipping below the 3,000 mark. The key index closed down 66.71 points or 2.21% at 2,957.53.
The decline came in spite of data, which showed that the country's consumer price index rose 7.7% in May from the year-ago month, compared with an increase of 8.5% in April.
Elsewhere:
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 2.5% to 5,329.20.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index dipped 1.4% to 3,439.22.
South Korea's Kospi shed 2.4% to 1,739.36.
Taiwan's Weighted index gave up 3.4% to 8,160.
Singapore's Straits Times index lost 1.8% to 2,990.88 in afternoon trading.
with files from other wire services
