(Updates market levels, details on Japan crisis)
* Japan shares slump 11 pct as radiation rises at nuke plant
* Radiation levels climb north of Tokyo
* Investors dump riskier assets, even "safe haven" gold
* Asia currencies battered, U.S. Treasuries gain
* Oil and copper also turn negative
(updates,adds fund manager comments)
By Jungyoun Park and David Chance
SEOUL, March 15 (Reuters) - Shares and other risky assets
from the Australian dollar to commodities such as copper and oil
slumped on Tuesday while safe-haven assets like U.S. Treasuries
rallied as Japan's nuclear crisis worsened.
Rising radiation levels at an earthquake-hit nuclear plant
in northeastern Japan triggered a huge selloff in Japanese
shares and panic hoarding of food and other supplies in Tokyo.
At one stage, Nikkei futures were down 16 percent
before paring losses to 10 percent, while the benchmark Tokyo
stock index ended down almost 11 percent, its biggest
one-day percentage loss since October 2008.
The Nikkei has lost around 17 percent of its value since a
massive earthquake and tsunami struck the country on Friday,
leading to explosions at several nuclear plants and forcing
thousands of factories to shut.
"The downside is completely open-ended at the moment as
headlines come through," said Roland Randall, a strategist at TD
Securities in Singapore, adding that markets would react
negatively until the nuclear threat is contained.
Stocks in the rest of Asia as measured by MSCI
fell nearly 3 percent as the nuclear crisis
worsened and the MSCI world index slid 1.2
percent.
European stock markets were expected to slide in early
trade, while U.S. stock index futures fell 0.8 percent,
pointing to more losses on Wall Street later in the day.
Australian shares fell 2.1 percent, with shares of
uranium miners extending losses as some countries indicated they
were rethinking plans for nuclear power in the wake of the Japan
disaster.
"It is like pricing an unknown risk. The comments from Japan
pushed the market off the edge," Shane Oliver, head of
investment strategy at AMP Capital in Sydney said.
South Korea fell 2.4 percent, led by nuclear power
plant designer KEPCO Engineering & Construction ,
which plunged 15 percent.
SAFE HAVEN RALLY FOR DOLLAR AND TREASURIES, AUSSIE PLUNGES
The dollar soared to just above 82.00 yen on trading
platform EBS from near 81.40 before settling back to near 81.65
yen, little changed on the day and not far from a record low of
79.75 struck in 1995.
U.S. Treasuries rallied on the global flight to safe assets
as risk aversion overpowered concerns that Japanese insurers
would sell Treasuries to fund payouts at home, which would also
boost the yen.
Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell further
to 3.24 percent from 3.37 percent earlier in the day, although
they were off the day's lows.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's policy-making Federal Open
Markets Committee meets on Tuesday and although the Fed is seen
exiting its stimulus earlier than Japan, few are expecting
policy to change during this meeting.
Asian currencies took a battering, led by the Australian
dollar which is often used as a proxy for global risk
and dumped during times of stress.
The Australian dollar was the worst performing
currency on Tuesday, falling more than 1.5 percent to a session
low around $0.9925, a level last seen in January. It last traded
at around $0.9949, with resistance seen at $1.0046 and support
at $0.9884.
The New Zealand dollar was also under pressure,
shedding more than one percent on the day to a six-month low of
$0.7295, while the Thai baht was also hit.
Asian cash and credit default spreads gapped sharply higher,
with South Korea, typically a volatile market that is prone to
risk-aversion, seeing the biggest rise in spreads.
Korean spreads rose 16 basis points (bps) to 116bps/118bps,
Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia all gapped 12bps.
For the latest news on the Japan crisis,
MARKET TURMOIL SPREADS TO OIL AND METALS
Commodity prices also slumped on reports of mounting
radiation levels in parts of Japan and fears that prevailing
winds could sweep radioactive material into Tokyo and other
heavily populated areas.
Brent crude for April fell as much as 1.9 percent to
1.9 pct to $111.49 before recovering to $119.49.
Even gold, a traditional safe-haven investment, was hit.
Spot gold almost one percent to $1,415.26 an ounce
by 0615 GMT, after rising as much as 1 percent on Monday.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange
reversed early gains to edge down 1.3 percent at $9,080 a tonne.
"People are going for risk aversion, so investors are
liquidating assets and positions including in crude oil and
gold," said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Astmax Co
Ltd.
BANK OF JAPAN SEEKS TO EASE PAIN
Euroyen futures edged higher and short-dated swap contracts
dipped on Tuesday following the Bank of Japan's offered to pump
5 trillion yen ($61 billion) into the banking system after
injecting a record 15 trillion yen in same-day market operations
on Monday and eased monetary policy further by expanding its
asset buying programme.
Ten-year Japanese government bond futures close on half a
point to 140.28 , on the way to testing the high for the
year, helped by safety bids and following a rout in the stock
market.
(Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo and Antoni
Slodkowski in TOKYO, Vikram S Subhedar in HONG KONG, Clare Jim
in TAIPEI, Cecile Lefort in SYDNEY; Editing by Richard Borsuk &
Kim Coghill)
* For the latest news from Japan, click
* For Reuters Global Investing Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting
* For the MacroScope Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope
* For Hedge Fund Blog, click on
http://blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub
