Asian markets hurt by Wall Street woes

After Wall Street was pummelled by a sell-off, stock markets in Asia fell sharply today, with heavy losses in Japan, where concern is high over how a fragile government will deal with weaknesses in the world’s second-largest economy.

One day after Japan learned that its deeply troubled economy had narrowly avoided a recession late last year, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, said: ‘‘The economy itself is certainly in a state of deflation. There is no hiding that fact.’’