Japan's stock market suffered historic declines on Monday, with the Nikkei 225 and Topix indexes plunging more than 12% each, marking their worst losses since Black Monday in 1987.
The Nikkei 225 closed at 31,458.42, down 12.4%, resulting in the biggest daily point loss in its history and erasing all gains for the year.
The Topix index fell 12.23% to 2,227.15. The decline confirmed the bearish market, with both indices down more than 20% from their all-time highs on July 11.
Leading trading companies such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui & Co., Sumitomo and Marubeni faced huge losses, with Mitsui's market share declining by nearly 20%.
The market's loss followed a significant decline the previous Friday.
The Japanese yen strengthened against the dollar, hitting its highest level since January, trading at 142.09 per dollar.
The sell-off affected the broader Asia-Pacific market: South Korea's Kospi index fell 8.77%, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 11.3%.
China's services sector showed growth, with the purchasing managers' index rising to 52.1 points in July.
Taiwan's benchmark index fell more than 8%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 3.7%
