Asian Stocks End Lower; Nikkei Plunges 6.9%

Updated from 12:39 a.m. EST

Asian markets plunged Thursday as Japanese stocks fell after a steep decline on Wall Street and government data showed that Japan's exports suffered a brutal drop in October.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average finished down 6.9% to 7,703.04.

Japan posted a trade deficit in October, the second in three months, as exports fell 7.7% from a year earlier, the biggest drop since 2001. Earlier this week, figures revealed Japan had slid into a recession in the third quarter, joining Hong Kong and the euro zone in posting two straight quarters of economic contraction. ...