Asian stock markets are a sea of red on Tuesday with investors indulging in some hectic selling, tracking cues from Wall Street where stocks stumbled overnight amid growing concerns about the euro zone debt crisis.
Mirroring widespread selling, all the sectoral indices are down in negative territory in the Australian market, with those tracking the movements of consumer discretionary, financial, healthcare and industrial stocks suffering sharp losses. Mining and energy stocks are also mostly trading weak.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is down 81 points or 1.8 percent at 4,501.3. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 78 points or 1.7 percent at 4,568.8.
In the banking space, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac are trading lower by 1.5 to 3 percent. Bank of Queensland and Bendigo & Adelaide Bank are also trading sharply lower.
Among top miners, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are trading lower by 1.8 to 2.5 percent, while Newcrest Mining is up marginally.
Macarthur Coal shares are up by over 37 percent following U.S. mining giant Peabody Energy making an A$4.7 billion takeover bid for the Queensland company in tandem with the world's largest steel maker, ArcelorMittal.
Iluka Resources, Bluescope Steel, Oz Minerals, Onesteel and Lynas Corporation are down with sharp losses.
Among energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum, Santos, Origin Energy and Oil Search are trading notably lower.
News Corporation shares are down 4 percent. Charter Hall Office, Sonic Healthcare, Qantas, Dexus Property Group, Leighton Holdings, JB Hi-Fi, Panaust, James Hardie Industries, Primary Healthcare, Challenger and Brambles are down 2.5 to 3.5 percent.
Transurban Group shares are trading marginally higher following the company's revenue in the three months to June surging higher by 13.9 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened notably lower amid growing worries about the debt crisis in Europe. In early trades, the Aussie was quoting at US$1.0656, down from Monday's close of US$1.0700. The Australian dollar is currently trading at 1.0593 to the U.S. dollar.
The Japanese stock market declined sharply, with investors pressing sales across the board. Besides lingering worries about the debt crisis in Europe, the overnight weak close on Wall Street and the yen's surge against the euro also contributed significantly to the market's fall.
Financial, precision instruments, manufacturing, foods, automobile and retail stocks were mostly down in negative territory with notable losses.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 154.5 points or 1.5 percent to 9,915 at the end of the morning session.
The mood was so bearish that just seven stocks out of the 225-stock strong Nikkei index were up in positive territory at present. Tokyo Electric Power topped the short list, gaining nearly 7.5 percent. Isuzu Motors was up by about 1 percent.
Shinsei Bank was trading lower by 4.5 percent. Bank of Yokohama, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Chiba Bank, Mizuho Financial, Mizuho Trust & Banking and Shizuoka Bank were also trading notably lower.
Automobile stocks Mazda Motor, Suzuki Motor, Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Nissan Motor were down 1 to 2.5 percent, while Mitsubishi Motor was trading modestly lower.
Hitachi Construction Machinery, Dai-ichi Life, Oki Electric, Inpex, MS&AD Insurance and Pacific Metals were down 3 to 4 percent.
Credit Saison, Resona Holdings, Sony Corp., Denso, Japan Steel Work, Nomura Holdings, Komatsu, Taiheiyo Cement, Mitsubishi Estate, GS Yuasa, Matsui Securities, Kobe Steel, Ebara, Mizuho Securities and Toho Zinc were down by over 2 percent.
On the economic front, an index measuring the prices for domestic corporate goods was down 0.1 percent in June compared to the previous month, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday, coming in at 105.4. That was unchanged from the previous month, and slightly wide of expectations for a 0.2 percent monthly contraction.
On an annual basis, the CGPI was up 2.5 percent - topping expectations for a 2.4 percent increase following the 2.2 percent gain in the previous month. Export prices were down 0.7 percent on month and 2.2 percent on year, the data showed, while import prices fell 1.8 percent on month, but surged 10.5 percent on year.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, an index measuring tertiary industry activity in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent in May compared to the previous month, standing at 96.6. That topped expectations for an increase of 0.7 percent on month following the 2.6 percent gain in April.
Industries that contributed to the increase included retail trade, personal services, accommodations, real estate and utilities. Industries that saw decline included technical services, communications and health care. Finance and insurance were unchanged.
Meanwhile, addressing a news conference, the Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said the government will begin full-scale discussions in August on a fiscal 2011 third supplementary budget for reconstruction projects. The minister said the talks will be based on basic reconstruction policies and will also take into account rebuilding plans made by quake-hit municipalities.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 80 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 80.16 to the U.S. dollar. Against the euro, the yen was quoting at 112.32 in early trades, as against Monday's close of 114.71.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are down with sharp losses. Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand are also trading notably lower. Markets across the region ended mostly lower on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks posted notable losses on Monday amid renewed concerns about the outlook for the global economy. A rather weak jobs data released last Friday continued to hurt sentiment as well.
The Dow ended down 151.4 points or 1.2 percent at 12,505.8, the Nasdaq drifted down by 57.2 points or 2 percent to 2,802.6 and the S&P 500 closed with a loss of 24.3 points or 1.8 percent at 1,319.5.
Major European markets too ended notably lower on Monday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index lost 1 percent, while the German DAX index and the French CAC 40 index closed lower by 2.3 percent and 2.7 percent respectively.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Monday amid concerns about a likely fall in demand due to the crisis in euro zone and a sharp decline in Chinese crude imports. Light, sweet crude for August delivery ended down $1.05 at $95.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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