Asian markets in red; Nikkei slumps

Asian markets have slipped this morning even as non-banking stocks gained. The Hang Seng has dropped 376 points (1.7%) to 21,378. The Nikkei has shed 272 points (2.7%) to a three-week low of 9,763.

The Taiwan Weighted has dipped 21 points to 7,319. The Seoul Composite has declined 13 points to 1,567. The Straits Times is down eight points at 2,645.

However, the Shanghai Composite has manged to hold on to gains and is now up 15 points at 3,010.