For the third time in little more than a week, markets around the region followed overnight losses on Wall Street, plunging lower, but some bargain hunters saw an opportunity in the dust of Wall Street's fallout.
Singapore, which has followed the Dow closely in similar routs, ended nearly unchanged after recovering early losses of nearly 1 per cent.
Australia, Tokyo and Hong Kong were some of the hardest hit, but most of the bad news was out of the way within the first few minutes of trade. By the end of the day, things were not as bleak as they looked in the morning for many markets.
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225-share average ended just about where it began - off 347.07 points, or 1.60 per cent, at 21.406.35.
The Australian All Ordinaries Index crumbled 2.17 per cent after a few investors hit the panic button.
Falling metal prices also weighed on the resource sector down under.
