Japan earthquake causes fall in yen and stocks
Asia stock markets and the yen have fallen sharply in response to a tsunami and earthquake in Japan measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale.
It struck only minutes before the 0645 GMT close of trading in Tokyo.
The dollar briefly gained about 0.5% against the yen to 83.275 yen, before dropping back again.
The Nikkei index ended the day some 1.7% lower, but Nikkei futures fell 3% in after-hours trading in Singapore as the scale of damage became apparent.
The Tokyo market had already been suffering amid the turmoil in the Middle East, and closed at its lowest level in five weeks.
Across Asia other markets also fell.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped some 1.8% following the earthquake, and remained down that much as of 0730 GMT.
Damage to economy
David Cohen, a Singapore-based analyst at regional economic commentators Action Economics said although the yen had traditionally been "a safe haven for investors" during disasters in other parts of the world, they may now ditch the yen in favour of the US dollar.
"In the short term, the damage could even knock off almost 1% of the country's GDP," he added.
"Longer-term though, it will balance out, through the rebuilding exercise which will be positive for growth will all the construction taking place. It could turn positive in about 12 months."
There will also be concerns about damage to productive capacity, he said, and industrial production may suffer as a consequence of the damage caused.
And is Arjuna Mahendaran, HSBC Private Bank's chief Asia strategist in Singapore, said: "The immediate impact will be that the currency will weaken and the markets will take a hit."
However Tom Byrne of Moody's Singapore said that in a big economy such as Japan's, "the impact of a natural disaster can be absorbed economically by the government and private insurance so there will be no impact on government's finances and therefore Japan's sovereign rating".
BBC News
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