Iwate Toshiba Electronics will start to ramp-up production lines from March 28. However, Toshiba Mobile Display (Saitama Pref.), a wholly-owned subsidiary and manufacturer of mid- and small-sized LCD displays, expects to take about a month to secure recovery of its manufacturing line. Toshiba has started to supply some products alternatively from the Ishikawa Works, the company's another production facility located in Ishikawa Pref..

A spike in radiation levels at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has forced workers to suspend their operation, a government spokesman says.

Shares and other risky assets from the Australian dollar to commodities such as copper and oil slumped on Tuesday while safe-haven assets like US Treasuries rallied as Japan's nuclear crisis worsened.

Sony has announced that, following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the northern region of Japan on March 11, Sony and its group companies will donate JPY300 million (US$3.66 million) to help relief and recovery efforts in communities affected.

Brent crude fell by almost US$3, reaching a two-week low near US$111 on investor pessimism that economic growth will slow in the wake of Japan's earthquake and tsunami, while easing unrest in the Middle East threw the focus back onto ample oil supplies.

The devastation in Japan is set to worsen the negative short-term sentiment gripping a vulnerable US stock market, with companies exposed to Japan and the nuclear energy sector likely to take the biggest hits.

A second explosion has hit the nuclear plant in Japan which was damaged in Friday's earthquake, but officials said it had resisted the blast.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 1.7% in Tokyo, extending declines after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck northeast of the capital.