The Asian and Pacific Rim followed Wall Street lower on Tuesday. The Asian Benchmark, in Japan, the Nikkei, was down over three percent as traders returned from a public holiday.
Asian traders are worried about the spread of the coronavirus into Europe, as cases in Italy spiked as well as into Iran.
The Nikkei 225 index plummeted 3.97 percent in the morning and remains sharply lower by the afternoon. Shares of Fast Retailing were down 3.5 percent and the broader Topix index, in Tokyo, was down over 2.6 percent.
In South Korea, the Kospi index was trading up 0.88 percent after falling sharply lower on Monday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 0.11 percent and in the Down Under, the headline S&P ASX 200 extended losses seen on Monday. The Australian benchmark fell over one percent by lunch time.
On the mainland in China, the benchmark equity index were all trading in the red by the afternoon. The Shanghai composite fell nearly one percent.
The smaller Shenzhen was down 0.16 percent. The Shenzhen had fallen as much as 0.84 percent at one point. The Shenzhen component gave up over half a percent as shares fell 0.55 percent by noon time.
Nikkei Tumbles on Coronavirus News as the Outbreak Spreads
The highly contagious and fast spreading coronavirus first originated in central China and has spread rapidly to other countries like South Korea, Italy and Iran. Italy has reported a spike in cases over the last couple of days.
As of yesterday, Korean health officials reported sixty new cases of the coronavirus as the number of infected now stands at 893.This is the largest concentration of infected outside of China. Eight people in Korea have now died.
Italy, a European Union member state, has more than 130 reported cases and three confirmed related deaths.