DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: To take a look -- more close look at the action in Asia now, we're going to go to Michelle Han. She's going to highlight, among other things, a big selloff in the Tokyo market. Hi, Michelle.</s>MICHELLE HAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Yes, you're right. Tokyo markets fell to their lowest levels in 16 years on Monday, even as the Japanese economy showed signs of improvement. Gross domestic product rose by a better-than-expected 0.8 percent in the October- December period. But unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori continued to struggle for his political life, denying that he had decided to resign over the weekend. The Nasdaq's big drop on Friday also hurt sentiment. The Nikkei closed down 3.6 percent. In Hong Kong, property stocks were the big losers on concerns that borrowing costs will remain high. Those fears were prompted by Friday's strong U.S. jobs report, which could reduce chances of more aggressive cuts in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. The Hang Seng index lost nearly 3 percent. And in Seoul, overseas investors dumped tech stocks like SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics. The two blue chips both lost more than 4 percent, dragging down the KOSPI by more than 3 1/2 percent. In the currency market, the yen also weakened to 120.51 against the dollar, slightly above a 20-month low of 120.62 earlier in the session. And that's a wrap of the trading day here in Asia. Deborah, back to you in New York.</s>MARCHINI: All right, Michelle Han reporting live from Hong Kong.
Tokyo Markets Fall to Lowest Levels in 16 Years; Japanese Prime Minister Says He's Not Resigning