Japanese stocks suffered another big sell-off on Thursday in a rollercoaster session, as foreign investors bailed out in the afternoon after a rebound in oil petered out.
A rising yen also dented the sentiment, sending the Nikkei share average tumbling 2.4 per cent to 16,017.26, after a steep fall in the previous day. The benchmark index has fallen more than 15 per cent since the beginning of the year.
Oil prices dipped, erasing modest early gains as analysts said a persistent global surplus of crude would keep pressuring the market.
The broader Topix shed 2.8 per cent to 1,301.49 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 also declined 2.8 per cent to 11,732.82