Tokyo stocks plunged 4.18 per cent Tuesday after weak US manufacturing data sent Wall Street and the dollar tumbling, with the headline index shedding 14 per cent in a month after its huge rally last year.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 610.66 points to 14,008.47, marking the worst percentage loss of the year. The Topix index of all first-section shares fell 4.77 per cent, or 57.05 points, to 1,139.27.

Just over a month after the Nikkei ended 2013 with a world beating 57 per cent rally - its best annual run in over four decades - Japanese shares have entered in what analysts say is a corrective phase.

The rise of the yen against the dollar has pushed down domestic stocks through the early weeks of 2014, after the currency's sharp decline through last year boosted the market.--AFP