A mixed open is expected Thursday for Japan stocks, with traders looking to snap up bargains after another share sell-off in the previous session.
Japan's stock market plunged on Wednesday, with a strengthening yen hurting the key export sector.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 average declined 201.40 points or 2.18 percent at 9,024.60.
Trading came as the yen moved to a 15-year high, and concerns mounted over the financial health of European banks.
The TOPIX index of all stocks traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section closed down 13.93 points or 1.67 percent at 820.99.
Trading volume was low at 1.474 billion shares.
On the First Section, there were 198 stocks closing higher, 1,347 were lower and 87 unchanged.
Of the 33 industry sectors tracked by the TSE, the Transportation sector was unchanged, while all 32 others were lower.
Among the major exporters, Honda Motor was down 2.5 percent, Nissan Motor was down 1.8 percent, Sony declined 2.2 percent and Canon was down 2.1 percent
In overseas trading, Wall Street posted gains on Wednesday. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 10,387.01, a gain of 46.32 points or 0.45 percent. The Nasdaq Composite index was up 19.98 points or 0.90 percent at 2,228.87 and the S&P 500 index was up 7.03 points or 0.64 percent at 1,098.87.
Most of the other major Asia/Pacific region markets closed lower on Wednesday.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 312.93 points or 1.46 percent at 21,088.86.
In China, the Shanghai Composite index was down 3.07 points or 0.11 percent at 2,695.29.
In India, the BSE 30/SENSEX index was up 21.65 points or 0.12 percent at 18,666.71.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was up 13.74 points or 0.43 percent at 3,230.89.
In South Korea, the KOSPI/Seoul Composite index was down 8.52 points or 0.48 percent at 1,779.21
The Taiwan Weighted Index was down 33.09 points or 0.42 percent at 7,851.31.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com