Heavyweight trading houses such as Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Co, Sumitomo and Marubeni all plunged more than 10%.from last week, while investors awaited key trade data from China and Taiwan this week, as well as central bank decisions from Australia and India.At these levels, both the Nikkei and Topix are nearing bear market territory, having fallen almost 20% from their all-time highs on July 11.
The Reserve Bank of Australia kicks off its two-day monetary policy meeting Monday. Economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to hold rates steady at 4.35%, but markets will monitor the monetary policy statement for clarity on whether the RBA is still considering a rate hike.saw the smallest loss in Asia, down 0.22%, while mainland China's CSI 300 was up 0.24%, the only major index in positive territory.