Asian shares decline as China worries darken sentiment

On Monday, US stocks logged their biggest drop since May, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite sinking 2.2 per cent.

Markets were closed Tuesday in Taiwan, Shanghai and South Korea.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dropped 0.5 per cent to 23,971.73 as selling of property developers slowed.

The Nikkei 225 dropped 601.48 points to 29,898.57. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 slipped 0.1 per cent to 7,244.80.

Analysts said fears the damage from a property bust in China could ripple worldwide were drawing on memories of past financial crises such as the bursting of the Japanese “bubble” economy or the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis.

In Japan, that catastrophe is called the Lehman crisis for the 2008 collapse of the Lehman Brothers which aggravated the situation.