DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Time to get a check on how the Asian markets fared overnight -- right to Dalton Tanonaka. Hi, Dalton.</s>DALTON TANONAKA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tokyo stocks took a major tumble after the Nasdaq's Wednesday fall, the 225-share Nikkei sinking 5 percent, it's biggest single-day percentage loss in nearly one year. Tech stocks were hardest hit. Japan's top optical fiber maker, Furukawa Electric, fell 11 percent. Investor sentiment was also bruised by weaker-than-expected industrial output numbers for February. Hong Kong stocks fell on weakness in the region's main phone company, Pacific Century CyberWorks. Investors battered that tel-co after it posted a larger-than-expected loss of $886 million late Wednesday. By the close, PCCW plummeted nearly 6 1/2 percent. Overall, the Hang Seng index was down 1 1/3 percent. Seoul stocks closed weaker, despite a long awaited bailout for the country's biggest builder. Hyundai Engineering and Construction was saved from drowning in debt after creditors offered a financial lifeline of $2.23 billion. Investors like the plan, and Hyundai Engineering gained nearly 3 percent. But those gains were offset by a sharp fall in Samsung SDI, which dragged the KOSPI down nearly 1 percent by the close. That's the business day here in Asia. I'm Dalton Tanonaka, in the CNN Asia Center, in Hong Kong.</s>HAFFENREFFER: All right, thank you, Dalton.
Asian Market Update: Tokyo Stocks Fall 5 Percent