DHAKA: Asian markets continued their downward trend on Wednesday, with Japan falling more than 7% in two days.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell by another 2.6% to 15,674.39 points, adding to Tuesday’s sharp 5.4% tumble, reports the BBC.

Concerns have been fuelled by the strengthening of the yen.

The worry is that if the currency is seen as a safe haven and keeps appreciating, it will hurt companies' international competitiveness and cut into the export sector’s profits.

Over the past few days the yen has been rising against the US dollar, despite the Bank of Japan's recent introduction of negative interest rates.

Japan’s lenders were amongst the hardest hit as the negative rates are expected to squeeze their already tight profit margins.

The banks Sumitomo, Mitsubishi and Nomura lost as much as 4% on Wednesday.

Markets in Hong Kong, China and Korea remained closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

In Australia, the ASX 200 lost 2.3% to 4,735.00 points, adding to the 2.8% decline of the previous day.

Shares continued to be weighed down by the dominant energy sector.

BDST: 1228 HRS, FEB 10, 2016
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** Tokyo shares follow Europe, US falls