Shares in Asia ended mixed Monday, but the Japanese stock market fell sharply as investors tried to weigh the complete impact of Friday's destructive earthquake and tsunami, a disaster that now threatens to evolve into a full-scale nuclear crisis.
At close, Japan's Nikkei plummeted 6.2% while Australia's ASX ended 0.5% lower. Mainland China's Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively. India's Sensex jumped 1.5%.
Stocks were trading with a negative bias globally�with insurance and nuclear-operations firms hit the most--after the Japanese calamity worsened as nuclear plants, hit by the worst earthquake in several hundred years, stood at the risk of a meltdown. The yen rose against the U.S. dollar even as the Japanese central bank introduced a fresh round of liquidity-easing to help an already-debt saddled economy get over its woes for now.
Even as default-insurance costs rose, ratings agency Moody's said the shock from Friday's earthquake may not result in an imminent fiscal crisis for the Asian nation, whose total debt is way above its gross domestic product. "However, a tipping point may be reached at some point if the market loses confidence in the soundness of government finances, and demands a risk premium on government bonds," said Thomas Byrne, a Moody's senior vice president.
Crude-oil futures dropped below the $100 per barrel mark for the first time in days.
Stocks on the Move
In Tokyo, stocks sold off with companies having a direct impact from the disaster ending deeply in the red, with many shares trading ask-only early on. The Nikkei closed breached the 10,000 mark for the first time since November 2010.
Large-cap stocks such as Fuji Heavy Industries, Honda Motor and Sony dropping about or more than 10%.
In Hong Kong and Shanghai, stocks ended steady but metals and bank ended lower. Jinagxi Copper fell 1.4% as base metal prices dropped. Bank of China was off 1.2%.
Indian stocks rose late after trading flat for most parts of the day. Heavyweights Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services added 2.6% and 1.9%, respectively, while Reliance Capital surged 9.7% after Japan's Nippon Life Insurance agreed to buy a 26% stake in the firm.
In Australia, the index ended lower as nuclear energy-related stocks fell as the news of Japan continued to pour in.
Extract Resources, Energy Resources of Australia and Paladin Energy pummeled 7.7% to 16.5%. QBE Insurance Group ended 1% lower after saying it would take a direct hit of $125 million as a result of the Japanese incident.