Asia markets were under pressure on Thursday, with Japan's Toshiba tumbling on credit downgrades while Takata soared as it nears a settlement with the U.S.Department of Justice related to faulty airbags for vehicles.
Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 (Nihon Keizai Shinbun: .N225) dropped 1.21 percent, likely due to pressure from a stronger yen.
Shares of Toshiba (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6502.T-JP) were down 19 percent at 252.3 yen each, fast approaching the Tokyo exchange's daily downward limit. The Tokyo stock exchange has different daily price limits for stocks, based on a tiered system.
On Wednesday, both Moody's and S&P Global Ratings downgraded Toshiba credit ratings and put the electronics conglomerate on ratings watch with negative implications.The downgrades come after the Japanese firm announced Tuesday it might have to recognize several billion dollars in write-downs related to its U.S.-based nuclear plant construction company acquisition.
Takata (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7312.T-JP) shares were positive amid a sea of red, trading up 16.47 percent or 100 yen to 707 yen each to hit its daily price limit. The airbag maker's shares rose on overnight news that it was nearing a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and is expected to pay up to $1 billion to resolve allegations of criminal wrongdoing related to its faulty air bag inflators, Reuters said, citing the Wall Street Journal.
Down Under, the ASX 200 (^AXJO) was nearly flat, down 0.01 percent, weighed strongly by a 1.28 percent loss in its utilities sub-index.
South Korea's Kospi (Korea Stock Exchange: .KS11) was lower 0.07 percent.
South Korea's finance ministry also revised its 2017 gross domestic product forecast for 2017, down to 2.6 percent from 3.0 percent earlier. Seoul also reported that industrial output jumped 3.4 percent in November from the previous month, its strongest monthly gain in almost seven years.
Mainland Chinese stocks slipped in early trade, with the Shanghai composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) down 0.3 percent and the Shenzhen composite (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJSZ) off 0.283 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: .HSI) dipped 0.31 percent.
Hong Kong's November trade figures are also on tap.
Over at Wall Street, major U.S. indices tumbled as the possibility of the Dow reaching its psychological 20,000 mark before the year ends grew increasingly elusive.
The Dow Jones industrial average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) finished down 0.56 percent at 19,833.68, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed 0.84 percent lower to 2,249.92 and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) composite finished down 0.89 percent to 5,438.56.