Japan's Nikkei Index at Lowest Point in 26 Years

Asian stock markets sank Monday, with Japan's benchmark tumbling to a 26-year closing low, amid deepening anxiety that economies in the U.S. and elsewhere will take far longer to emerge from recession. European shares opened lower.

Investors continued to shun banks on worries the financial sector still hasn't raised enough capital to make up for its massive losses on bad assets. Heavyweight lender HSBC, Europe's largest bank, plunged over 24 percent in Hong Kong trade, and Lloyds Banking Group tumbled more than 10 percent in Britain.

Japanese shares, already among Asia's worst performing this year, crumbled further after the world's second-largest economy posted a record current account deficit in January, its first in 13 years. Oil prices, meanwhile, were higher ahead of an anticipated production cut from OPEC.
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