Australian and Japanese markets closed sharply lower on Tuesday, after another selloff in U.S. and European stocks overnight as many Asian markets remained shut for the Lunar New Year.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 collapsed 918.56 points, or 5.4%, to 16,085.44
The U.S. dollar-yen pair was down 0.97% at 114.73, tapping its lowest level since November 2014. Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday that the yen's moves were "rough," adding that he'd be watching it closely
Exporters Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Sony closed down as much as 7.2%; a stronger yen is a negative for exporters as it reduces their overseas revenue when converted the into local currency.
Energy plays were mostly down, with shares of Santos falling 5%, Woodside Petroleum down 2.5%, Inpex seeing losses of 6.4% and Japan Petroleum lower by 5.7%
Shares of gold miners rose, with Newcrest finishing up 8.3%, Alacer Gold adding 6.3%, Evolution Mining up 6.4% and Kingsgate surging 16%
Australia's so-called Big Four banks, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac and NAB, closed down as much as 4.8%.
Japanese banking stocks were also down as concerns persisted over their profitability after the central bank introduced a negative interest rate policy on January 29. Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ were down 8.7%, SMFG fell 9% and Mizuho Financial slipped 6.2%
The official summary of the central bank's meeting, released Monday, showed the Bank of Japan's members tussled over the decision to adopt negative interest rates, raising concerns about banks' profitability and that other countries' policymakers would also cut rates.
In other markets;
Markets in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Singapore were shuttered for holiday
The NZX 50 in New Zealand returned from a long weekend to dump 82.48 points, or 1.3%, to 6,071.32.
In Australia, the ASX 200 fell 143.31 points, or 2.9%, to 4,832.08
