Around the World's Markets: Tokyo

JAPANESE shares suffered heavy losses, with domestic investors dumping stocks in an attempt to cement gains ahead of fiscal year end. Tuesday's slide in the Dow also undermined sentiment, and the benchmark Nikkei 225 index ended down 503.63 points, 3.14 per cent, at 15,515.47. June Nikkei futures fell 450 points to 15,530.

"Foreign buying interest was strong, but it could not keep up with domestic selling," said Shuichi Iwao, chief of stock trading at Nippon Global Securities. Major exporters were among the fallers.