Asia's markets traded in the red on Monday, after Wall Street's sharp losses on Friday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.6 percent, extending Friday's 1.9 percent drop. On Friday, the market took a wild ride after the Bank of Japan disappointed traders hoping for additional stimulus.

The BOJ kept monetary policy unchanged as expected, but the central bank announced a new program to purchase ETFs at annual pace of 300 billion yen (USD 2.45 billion). This is in addition to the bank's existing ETF purchase program which increases ETF holdings at an annual pace of about 3 trillion yen.

That pushed up the yen against the dollar, likely weighing on shares of exporters. The greenback was fetching 121.23 yen early Monday, compared with around 122.40 yen before the decision Friday.

Among exporters, Toyota dropped 2.1 percent, Sony fell 3.0 percent and Kyocera shed 1.1 percent.

Toshiba plunged 9.8 percent after Dow Jones reported over the weekend that people familiar with the matter said the company is likely to post a full year net loss of around 500 billion yen, or USD 4.1 billion.

Sharp was flat after the Nikkei business daily reported over the weekend that U.S. buyout firm KKR & Co. was among the private equity firms interested in investing in the company.

Australia shares were mildly lower, with the S&P/ASX 200 index shedding 0.2 percent.

But despite the commodity-dependent market facing headwinds from drops in oil and iron ore prices, some see shares down under will find support.

"We see several oversold positions being closed and managers are looking to close the books on a positive note. We expect the ASX to remain above 5000 points for a 'positive' end to a negative year. We remain confident that buying will continue for the last seven days of trade (for 2015)," Evan Lucas, market strategist at spreadbettor IG, said in a note Monday.

Indeed, despite the drop in oil prices, several energy plays posted strong gains. LNG rose 8.8 percent, Origin Energy gained 0.9 percent and Santos tacked on 2.3 percent.

U.S. crude oil futures for January delivery, which expire Monday, were down 0.6 percent at USD 34.52 a barrel in Asia trade, extending declines after losing 2.5 percent for the week. Brent futures for February delivery shed 1.0 percent to 36.53 a barrel in Asia trade.

Shares of Crown Resorts rose 4.0 percent after news that Australian tycoon James Packer, who owns more than half of the casino company, quit the board.

In Hong Kong and China, shares swung between positive and negative territory. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.3 percent and the Shanghai Composite added 0.5 percent after initially opening lower.

Banks wavered, with Bank of China's mainland-listed shares down 0.3 percent, while its Hong Kong-listed ones traded flat. Hong Kong-listed property shares were mostly lower, with Shimao Property off 0.6 percent and Hysan Development losing 0.9 percent.

But energy plays recovered despite the lower oil price. Hong Kong-listed shares of Cnooc added 1.2 percent, while Sinopec rose 0.7 percent.

In South Korea, the Kospi was off 0.1 percent after wavering between positive and negative territory. Heavyweight exporters were lower, with Samsung Electronics dropping 0.7 percent and Hyundai Motor off 1.6 percent.

Samsung Engineering shed 1.6 percent despite saying it won a USD 552 million order after the share rose more than 8 percent in total last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average had its worst day since Sept. 1, closing nearly 370 points lower as selling accelerated into the close. The S&P 500 fell more than 1.5 percent, with financials plunging 2.5 percent to lead all sectors lower. The Nasdaq composite declined about 1.6 percent to close below the psychologically key 5,000 level.

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First Published:Dec 21, 2015 7:53 AM IST