(Updates market levels, details on Japan crisis)
* Japan shares slump more than 14 percent
* Radiation levels rise around stricken nuclear plant
* Minute levels of radiation detected in Tokyo - report
* Asia currencies battered, U.S. Treasuries gain
* Oil, gold and copper turn negative
(updates,adds fund manager comments)
By Jungyoun Park and David Chance
SEOUL, March 15 (Reuters) - Japanese shares plunged more
than 14 percent on Tuesday as fresh explosions rocked a damaged
nuclear plant and triggered a rise in radiation levels, sending
investors fleeing from riskier assets such as equities and
commodities across Asia.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index extended its
early slump after Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation levels
at the plant on the northeast coast had risen and urged people
within a 30-km (18 mile) radius of the facility to stay indoors.
One report said "minute" levels of radiation had been
detected in Tokyo.
So far this week, $720 billion in market value has been
wiped off the Tokyo stock exchange's biggest companies in the
wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami which hit the country
on Friday, triggering the nuclear crisis.
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.
Asian currencies from the Australian dollar , the New
Zealand dollar to the Thai baht , with the Aussie
dropping more than 1 percent on the day to a session low at
$0.9986.
"All focus is on the nuclear crisis. In the situation where
the crisis appears to be worsening, foreign investors and
domestic fund operators are pulling out from Japanese shares,"
Hideyuki Ishiguro, a supervisor at Okasan Securities in Tokyo.
Asian share markets had initially posted modest losses in
response to Tokyo's slump, but then turned sharply lower with
the benchmark South Korean index falling 3 percent.
Australian shares dropped 2.6 percent and Hong Kong
about 4 percent.
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 as investors scrambled out of
risker assets.
Brent crude for April fell $1.87 to $111.80 a barrel
at 0256 GMT after trading as low as $111.49. U.S. crude for
April dropped $1.88 to $99.31.
Even gold, a traditional safe-haven investment, was hit.
Spot gold lost $2.50 an ounce to $1,424.15 an ounce
by 0034 GMT, after rising as much as 1 percent on Monday.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange
reversed early gains to edge down 0.4 percent at $9,160 a tonne
by 0259 GMT.
"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 rose half a point
to 140.42 , on the way to testing the high for the year,
helped by safety bids and following a rout in the stock market.
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.
U.S. Treasuries rallied on the global flight to safe assets
as risk aversion overpowered concerns Japanese insurers would
sell Treasuries to fund payouts at home.
Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell further
to 3.22 percent from 3.37 percent earlier in the day.
(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)
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