Asian markets got off to a gloomy start early Tuesday as Brexit concerns continued to weigh on investors.
The Nikkei in Tokyo fell 0.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.3%, while Australian stocks dropped 1%.
The declines followed a brutal day of trading in Europe and the U.S. on Monday. The Dow slumped 261 points to the lowest level in over three months. Benchmark indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt lost 2.5% to 3%. Ireland, a major trading partner of the U.K., saw its stock market plummet by 9.5%.
The pound, meanwhile, hit a fresh low of below $1.32 on Monday, its weakest level in more than three decades. But early Tuesday, it was broadly stable, trading slightly above $1.32.
The extreme uncertainty unleashed by the U.K.’s historic vote to leave the European Union has pummeled the British currency. Some analysts have warned that they think it has further to fall.
Fragile market sentiment wasn’t helped by Standard & Poor’s two-notch downgrade of Britain on Monday. S&P specifically cited the Brexit vote, warning it will hurt the U.K. economy, deter investment and make it harder to finance the country’s large debt load.
British voters chose to leave the EU in a referendum on Thursday. The U.K.’s decision to become the first country to drop out of the 28-nation bloc has caused market chaos, wiping out trillions of dollars in value.
Amid the turmoil, bank stocks have taken a severe hit. That continued in Asia on Tuesday, with the big Japanese bank Nomura sinking 3.8%. Nomura has significant operations in London, whose status as the undisputed financial capital of Europe has been cast into doubt.