Japan shares opened the trading Monday sharply lower as sentiment was hit by weak US economic data and declines on Wall Street last week, with the Nikkei index briefly falling to a one-year closing low.
At 9.15 a.m. (local time), the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average plunged 475.49 points, or 2.77 percent, from Friday to 16,671.62, Xinhua reported.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 36.83 points, or 2.63 percent, to 1,365.62.