Tokyo stocks down 0.94% by break

Tokyo stocks fell 0.94 percent Tuesday morning as Shanghai suffered another sell-off a day after the mainland Chinese market's heaviest one-day losses in more than eight years.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 191.47 points at 20,158.63 by the break, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares eased 1.14 percent, or 18.66 points, to 1,619.24.

Chinese stocks plunged on Tuesday morning, despite the government's renewed pledge of continued support, with the Shanghai Composite index down 3.31 percent.

Global equity markets retreated on Monday after Shanghai plummeted 8.48 percent on fears the Chinese government will pull back on support measures that have provided stability for the past few weeks.

On Wall Street, the Dow shed 0.73 percent, S&P 500 fell 0.58 percent and the Nasdaq lost 0.94 percent.

And analysts said the latest gyrations in China could affect Federal Reserve policymakers' views when they discuss when to hike interest rates during their latest meeting this week.

"Extreme caution is needed here," Matthew Sherwood, Sydney-based head of investment strategy at Perpetual Ltd., told Bloomberg News.

"The return of market volatility in China will be a significant discussion point at the US Fed. There is a lot of global weakness and significant external risk."

In Tokyo, Sony dropped 2.84 percent to 3,528.5 yen and Toyota fell 1.51 percent to 8,059 yen.

Suntory Beverage and Food fell 0.18 percent to 5,320 yen following a report that its parent firm, Suntory Holdings, was considering a public listing as early as 2018.

The dollar rose to 123.45 yen, from 123.24 yen in New York.

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