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Asia markets tumble led by Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong as investors weigh SVB concerns
Jihye Lee,Lim Hui Jie
Pedestrians cross a road in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), operated by Japan Exchange Group Inc. (JPX), in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020.

Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg via Getty Images

Asia-Pacific markets tumbled on Tuesday in a volatile session, after sharp losses seen overnight on Wall Street as investors grappled with the fallout of failed banks in the U.S., including Silicon Valley Bank.

In Japan, the Topix led losses and fell 2.53%, and Nikkei 225 shed 2.1% as shares of Softbank Group fell as much as 3.5% to its lowest point since October last year in early trade.

South Korea's Kospi also fell by nearly 2% and the Kosdaq was 2.57% lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.83%, while the Hang Seng Tech index shed 2.11%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.88% lower and the Shenzhen Component fell 1.15%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slid 1.64%, largely led by losses in the banking sector. The economy's consumer confidence also held near historic lows.

In the U.S, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its fifth straight day of losses, even as a plan to backstop all the depositors in failed Silicon Valley Bank, along with other extraordinary measures, failed to boost bank shares. The S&P 500 fell 0.15%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.45%.

Investors will also be keeping a close watch on the U.S. consumer price index for February, due to be released Tuesday.

— CNBC's Tanaya Macheel and Alex Harring contributed to this report

SVB collapse: No other lender 'stepping in to fill those shoes,' investment firm says

Not another lender will be stepping in to fill SVB's shoes, investment firm says
VIDEO02:27

Startups will soon feel the secondary effects of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse in a "very important way," said Matt Higgins, CEO and co-founder of private investment firm RSE Ventures.

Speaking to CNBC's "Street Signs Asia," Higgins explained that SVB was "very paternalistic" to the sector, providing not only payroll services and loans to founders, but more importantly, lines of credit as well.

"A lot of these companies were having trouble already raising equity. And they were counting on those lines to extend their runway to push out [their] cash burn beyond the recession we all expect," Higgins said.

However, with the shuttering of SVB, "that evaporated overnight, and there's not another lender that's going to be stepping in to fill those shoes." he says.

— Lim Hui Jie

Australia consumer sentiment stays extremely weak
Australia's consumer sentiment remained unchanged in February, at a 30 year low of 78.5.

This marks the second consecutive month of "extremely weak consumer sentiment," said Westpac Melbourne Institute.

"Index reads below 80 are rare, back-to-back reads even rarer. Indeed, both the Covid shock and the Global Financial Crisis saw only one month of sentiment at these levels," wrote Westpac's chief economist Bill Evans.

Given Australia's lower than expected figures for wages, employment and inflation, Evans maintained his forecast of a 0.25 percentage point hike in interest rates in May.