Asian markets slump

Markets look to Washington

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(CNN) -- Asian and Pacific stocks slid Tuesday, with Tokyo's benchmark index ending down more than 2% and Hong Kong dropping 3%.

Tokyo's Nikkei index closed off 2.4%, an improvement from session lows, even as Japan's No. 1 automaker Toyota reported a decline in its 2008 sales and reshuffled its top ranks.

Toyota announced its overall sales were down 4%, including a 5% domestic decline. The company announced that Akio Toyoda, the grandson of its founder, would replace current President Katsuaki Watanabe in June.

Tuesday's figures were a precursor to a March report in which the company has said it expects to end 2008 with an operating loss for the first time in its history as a public company.

Financial stocks also appeared to be impacted by Monday's announcement that Britain would launch a second bailout of its banking system. European shares closed lower Monday after the Royal Bank of Scotland's announcement that it would post a 2008 loss of up to $41.3 billion -- the biggest in British corporate history.

Australia's All Ordinaries index closed down 3%, while the South Korean KOSPI index was off 2.1%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ended down 3% after a slight rebound in late afternoon. And in Shanghai, the SSE composite recovered most of its earlier losses, tracking down 0.4%.

U.S. markets were closed Monday for the federal holiday honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.