Japanese and South Korean stocks closed sharply lower, with South Korea's KOSPI index falling nearly 3%.

The Nikkei 225 index closed down 1284.93 points, or 2.50%, at 50212.27 on Wednesday, November 5th, after falling more than 4% at one point during the session and breaching the 50,000-point mark. The South Korean KOSPI index closed down 117.32 points, or 2.85%, at 4004.42 on Wednesday, November 5th, after falling more than 6% at one point during the session.