Stocks fell 6.18 percent, the most in more than two years, after the nation's strongest earthquake on record, and massive tsunami, snarled production lines and shut factories, raising concerns that economic growth will stall.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., Asia's biggest power utility battling to avoid a meltdown at its Fukushima nuclear plant, plunged 24 percent. Toshiba Corp., a maker of nuclear reactors, fell 16 percent. Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., the nation's largest property and casualty insurer by market value, fell 13 percent. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. all retreated at least 6.5 percent after Japan's three-largest automakers said thousands of new vehicles were damaged. Construction companies climbed.
The Nikkei 225 stock average slumped to 9,620.49 in the sharpest drop since December 2008. The broader Topix index retreated 7.49 percent to 846.96, falling the most since October 2008. Most stocks were initially unable to begin trading at the open as sell orders overwhelmed those to buy.