Asian markets tumble as fears grow over banking sector

Markets in Asia tumbled Tuesday as investors followed European stocks in a downward spiral on renewed fears for the banking sector, while Toyota announced its first sales fall in a decade.
Tokyo dived 2.31 percent, Hong Kong almost 2.9 percent and Sydney 3.1 percent, while Seoul shed more than two percent, Taipei lost 2.84 percent and Singapore 1.35 percent.
Dealers' concerns the global financial crisis has a lot further to go were borne out on Monday when Royal Bank of Scotland announced it had lost up to 40 billion dollars last year, the biggest loss in British corporate history.
The news hit European stocks and sent the British pound plunging to a six-year low against the dollar.
The falls came despite a second multi-billion pound bank rescue package by London.
Toyota Tuesday released figures showing a four percent fall in global sales in 2008 due to slumping demand -- its first decline since 1998, according to a company spokeswoman.
It later announced it had appointed Akio Toyoda -- grandson of the company's founder -- to be the new president as part of a reshuffle of top management.
The falls showed that previous optimism over the inauguration of Barack Obama as US president later Tuesday had been virtually wiped out by the reality of the state of the world economy.
Meanwhile, the European Commission forecast the EU economy will shrink nearly two percent in 2009 as a recession sends unemployment and government deficits soaring.
However, despite the grim regional news, Shanghai reversed earlier losses and posted a 0.37 percent gain on continuing hopes for further government stimulus measures to boost the country's ailing industries.
TOKYO: Down 2.31 percent. The Nikkei-225 index dropped 191.06 points to 8,065.79. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares lost 12.70 points, or 1.55 percent, to 805.03.
The Nikkei index shed more than three percent in the morning but narrowed the losses in late trading on speculation that pension funds and other domestic investors were buying major automakers and other shares, dealers said.
Toyota shares rose 2.31 percent to end at 3,100 yen despite its weak sales data and a report that it was considering shedding a further 3,000 temporary workers to weather the industry slump.
HONG KONG: Down 2.9 percent. The Hang Seng Index closed 380.22 points lower at 12,959.77. Turnover was 39.58 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.07 billion US).
HSBC lost 7.7 percent to 57.50 dollars, adding to its six-day, 16.6 percent slump on persistent capital-raising concerns, despite a statement from the bank Monday denying speculation it is seeking support from the British government.
Losses on the main index were narrowed by China Mobile, which bucked the downtrend after it reported a strong increase in new users.
SYDNEY: Down 3.1 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 lost 112.7 points to end at 3,476.6 -- its lowest close since late November -- while the broader All Ordinaries dumped 106.0 points to end the day at 3,425.0.
MUMBAI: Down 2.45 percent. The 30-share Sensex index fell 229.02 points to 9,100.55.