Banks push Asia into the red
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Losses among techs and banks pushed the Nikkei below 10,000.
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(CNN) -- Japan's benchmark Nikkei average plunged 3.7 percent Monday to close below 10,000 for the first time since August, with key exporters and big banks leading the decline.
Mizuho tumbled almost 11 percent and NEC lost 5.7 percent.
Other Asian markets were also well into the red on terror-related financial jitters.
The falls followed Friday losses on Wall Street, a decline in U.S. retail spending in October, and currency volatility. Nervousness about Japan's potential role in Iraq also weighed on investors.
The Nikkei 225 lost 3.74 percent to 9786.83, down 380 points and below 10,000 for the first time since August 18. The index fell 1.65 percent on Friday.
The broader Topix index ended down 3.46 percent to 971.89.
Hong Kong was down 1.7 percent and Singapore closed 2.2 percent down, at 1698.12 points.
South Korea closed 1.9 percent lower, there were falls of 1.5 percent for Taiwan and about 0.9 percent for Australia.
New Zealand was the only market in the region to edge higher, up 0.18 percent.
In Tokyo, big carmakers were down sharply in early trade, but made up some ground later. Nissan finished 2.3 percent lower to 1269 yen, while Toyota was off 0.3 percent to 3350 yen and Honda slipped 0.7 percent to 4340 yen.
The dollar firmed significantly, trading at 109.45 yen in Tokyo late in the day. But the recent strength of the yen is still weighing on big exporters, especially those that target the U.S. market.
Japan's big banks were also sharply in the red, with Mizuho down 10.8 percent to 214,000 yen, and UFJ and SMFG both off more than 9 percent. MTFG slipped 6 percent to 701,000 yen.
Tech bellwethers Advantest and Tokyo Electron lost more than 6 percent each.
Among other tech-related stocks, Toshiba ended 3.6 percent lower to 401 yen, while Fujitsu was off 4.4 percent to 607 yen and Hitachi was down 3.3 percent.
Internet investor Softbank plunged 12.5 percent to 3500 yen, and its Yahoo Japan unit was down 5.6 percent to 1.33 million yen.
The Tokyo market's biggest stock, mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo, rose 2.6 percent to 239,000 yen.
Japan Airlines System (JAL), which posted first-half earnings Friday, lost a hefty 6 percent to 296 yen.
In South Korea the Kospi finished down 1.9 percent to 794.47. Seoul's biggest stock, Samsung Electronics, was 1.7 percent lower to 461,000 won.
Leading bank Shinhan Financial Group lost 4.4 percent to 18,400 won, and blue-chip SK Telecom slipped 2.8 percent to 190,500 won.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 ended 0.86 percent lower to 3174.4. Market heavyweight News Corp., which gets most of its revenue in the United States, closed 2 percent lower to A$11.96.
Resources groups BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto also were in the red. Leading bank NAB took a pounding, losing 3.3 percent to A$28.64.
The Australian dollar slipped from six-year highs to trade at 71.60 U.S. cents.
In Taiwan, the Taiex closed 1.53 percent lower to 5952.32, with sharp falls for techs. Chip foundry TSMC was down 1.5 percent to T$66.50 and UMC fell 3.2 percent to T$30.30.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished down 1.69 percent to 11,977.02, pushed lower by falls of 3 percent for Hutchison Whampoa and 2.25 percent for China Mobile.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index is 1.8 percent lower to 1705.19. Singapore Airlines is down 3.2 percent to S$11.90 and leading bank DBS is off 3.3 percent to S$14.40.
New Zealand's Top 50 finished 0.18 percent higher to 2323.81, with Telecom and Air New Zealand both unchanged.
The moves in Asia follow another down day on Wall Street Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.7 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 1.89 percent to 1930.26. (Full story)
