the currencies. also against the dollar and the yen down just a shade 82.65. pauline? the yen plunged a little bit and recovered in the session and here in asia, most of the markets finished lower led by tokyo. the nikkei lost more than 1% by the close, the first opportunity for investors to react to japan's recent sovereign debt downgrade. standard & poor's cut the rating saying japan will most likely struggle with the fiscal deficit for several more years. the hang seng lost. the shanghai composite gained slightly, about four points despite a lagging performance of the property stocks and a new rez didn residential tax started today.