Asian markets are trading sharply lower today tracking sharp losses overnight in Wall Street.. Hong Kong's stock index has plunged more than 6 percent in early trade.
The blue chip Hang Seng index fell 861.81 points, or 6.18 percent, to 3,077.28 about 10 minutes after market opened Thursday.
South Korean shares fell for a third session Thursday. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 66.47 points, or 5.9 percent, to 1,057.39 within the first hour of trading.
South Korean investors often take their cue from action on Wall Street.
The South Korean won traded at about 1,394 to the U.S. dollar, down 2.5 percent from Wednesday's close.
The start of stock trading was delayed by one hour on Thursday because of national university entrance examinations.
The stock exchange, government and some other offices traditionally delay the start of business in order to clear roads to ensure no delays for students heading to exam sites.
The Kospi was set to close one hour later than usual to make up for the late start.
Stocks also sank in Japan early on Thursday.
The country's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average plummeted more than 5 percent as the day's session began, and was down 357.70 points, or 4.1 percent, at 8,337.81 after about an hour of trading.
The drop followed a third-straight day of falls in the U.S. on Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrials lost 4.73 percent as investors reacted to dismal corporate reports and the news that the U.S. government has decided not to purchase bad mortgage assets from banks.
The yen also jumped against the dollar on Thursday, and was trading at 95.58 yen against the greenback in Asia, versus 97.98 yen a day earlier.
The stronger yen is bad news for major exporters, and investors sent Sony Corp. down 7.5 percent to 2,025 yen.
Another electronics maker, Sharp Corp., also fell sharply on news it agreed to pay $120 million after pleading guilty to conspiring with two other companies to fix prices of LCD screens in the U.S. Its shares had fallen 6.2 percent to 683 yen.
Memory chip maker Elpida, faced with ongoing falls in global chip prices, was also having a bad morning and was off 10 percent at 495 yen.
Investors took the cue to dump shares after the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 411.30 points, or 4.73 percent, to 8,282.66.
Wall Street fell for the third straight session as investors absorbed another series of dismal corporate reports and news that the U.S. government decided not to buy banks' soured mortgage assets.