Asian shares fell across the board Tuesday after Wall Street tumbled into a bear market, indicating that major U.S. benchmarks and individual stocks have fallen 20% or more from a recent high for a sustained period of time, the Associated Press reported. Benchmarks fell in Japan, Australia, South Korea and China. The Japanese yen's continuing slide against the dollar paused. Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 1.8% to 26,496.91. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dipped 4.3% to 6,634.00 after reopening from a holiday on Monday. South Korea's Kospi lost 1.0% to 2,479.83. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.4% to 20,990.98, while the Shanghai Composite edged down 1.2% to 3,217.72. Adding to worries about the fragile Japanese economy is the sliding yen, recently at 135, the lowest level against the U.S. dollar since 1998. The U.S. dollar rose to 134.62 Japanese yen from 134.46 yen, as the yen's weakness was mitigated somewhat by Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's comments expressing concern about its decline. The euro cost $1.0426, up from $1.0409. In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude fell 22 cents to $120.71 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 26 cents to $120.93 on Monday. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 29 cents to $121.98 a barrel.
