Markets in Asia and the Pacific were down on Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street as investor fears overshadowed optimism over US President Barack Obama's inauguration.
Wall Street ushered in the new presidency with a record Inauguration Day slide on Tuesday amid signs the global banking crisis was far from over.
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 332 points or 4% to 7,949.09 while the Standard & Poor's dropped 5.2%.
In Japan, the Nikkei-225 index dropped 164.15 points or 2% to 7,901.64 on Wednesday.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares lost 17.88 points, or 2.22%, to 787.15.
The Australian share market perked up in afternoon trading but still closed almost 1% weaker, largely on anxiety over the health of overseas banks.
At the 1615 AEDT close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had fallen 33.8 points, or 0.97%, to 3,442.8, and the broader All Ordinaries index had declined 30.2 points, or 0.88%, to 3,394.8.
The price of gold in Sydney was $US853.00 per fine ounce, up $US23.50 on Tuesday's close of $US829.50.
In New Zealand, the benchmark index was down 4 points to 2705 on turnover of $80 million.
Top stocks were mixed: Fletcher Building rose 16 cents at $5.64, Telecom was up 5c to $2.47, but Contact Energy fell 6c to $6.60.
