Japanese shares have tumbled on the first trading day after the massive earthquake and tsunami¹ that hit the country's northeast shore.

受大地震和海啸的影响，日本股市灾后第一个交易日大跌。

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index fell 6% to 9,632.18, while the broader Topix index was trading 7.4% lower.

That has knocked more than $150bn off the Nikkei's total market value.

The Bank of Japan will inject 15 trillion yen² ($183bn; £114bn) into the banking³ system to stabilise markets.

Immediately after the quake, the central bank pledged to "do its utmost" to limit its impact, including providing liquidity⁴（流动性） to money and banking markets.

The deadly quake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan just before the markets closed on Friday.

"The recent major earthquake is bound to exert（运用，发挥） downward pressure on Japanese equities⁵ as a whole over the near term," Nomura said in a note to investors⁶.

Elsewhere in the region, the main markets have also fallen on Monday, though the declines were smaller than those seen in Japan.

South Korea's Kospi share index slid 0.9%. Singapore's STI index shed more than 0.4% and Taiwan's main index dropped 0.8%.

Production troubles

Japanese carmakers and electronics firms led the declines on Monday.

Early trading was complicated because many sellers of shares struggled to find buyers. As a result, a number of stocks remained untraded once the markets had opened.

Shares of Toyota Motors, the world's biggest automaker, fell 2.1% after it suspended operations at all of its 12 Japanese factories.

The automaker said production will be halted till at least 16 March, reducing output by 40,000 vehicles.

Japanese factories account for 38% of Toyota's overall production.

Honda, Japan's third-largest automaker, fell 9.1%. The company makes about a quarter of all its cars in Japan.

Electronics companies including Hitachi and Toshiba also dropped, shedding more than 15%.

Japanese Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano was quoted by the Jiji news agency saying that he was keeping a close eye on the movement of Japan's currency, the yen, which has strengthened.

Economists⁷ said that a stronger yen may make it harder for companies to sell their goods abroad, further hurting their earnings⁸.