Asia markets sharply lower after opening

TOKYO, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The Wall Street contagion caused largely by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings spread Tuesday to major Asian markets where stocks plunged after opening.

In Tokyo, the key 225-issue Nikkei index was off more than 618 points, or 5.06 percent, from Friday, trading at about 11,596 points, the lowest intraday level since July 8, 2005, Kyodo news service reported. Japanese markets were closed Monday for a national holiday.

Shares fell across the board with financials taking the worst beating.

Yutaka Shiraki, a senior equity strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co., was quoted as saying the selling pressure was expected to continue as investors "are clueless as to the magnitude of losses that could result from the collapse of Lehman Brothers and how deeply institutions (in Japan) are connected to Lehman Brothers."

On Wall Street on Monday, the Dow Jones index gave up more than 500 points, or 4.4 percent, to close below 11,000.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was off about 1,128 points. Markets in South Korea and Taiwan also were sharply down after opening.

Other Asian markets, which were open Monday, experienced big losses even prior to New York's Monday opening.