HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- The bombshell of Lehman Brothers' plan to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection ripped across Asian markets Monday, pounding financial shares in Sydney, though some of the other major regional bourses delayed the hit due to holiday closures.

The Lehman LEH, news sent the U.S. dollar sharply lower against the yen, while stock futures pointed to a plunge of more than 300 points for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

"There's complete nervousness across markets," said James Spiteri, a Sydney-based senior dealer with Shaw Stockbroking. "Markets are once again concerned about the unknown."

Among the big movers, shares of Macquarie Group (MQG), Australia's largest investment bank, dropped 10.3% to A$39.46.

Financial shares were pummeled amid mounting concerns of a domino effect after reports that American International Group AIG, -1.23% is seeking to raise an additional $40 billion in capital to avoid a credit downgrade. Reports said the firm is seeking a bridge loan from the Federal Reserve.

Several key regional markets managed to side-step the full force of the financial blowout, at least for now, thanks to holiday closures in Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Sydney's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed 1.8% lower at 4,817.70. It recouped from a near-two-year low earlier in the session.

Taiwan's Taiex index closed down 4.1%, Singapore's Straits Times ended off 3.3%, and New Zealand's NZX-50 ended 1.2% down.

India's Bombay Sensex plunged 3.5% in late trading.

Of other regional indexes, Malaysia's KLSE index was off 1.2%, Thailand's SET index fell 1.8% and Indonesia's JSX Composite was down 4.7%.

U.S. futures markets were pointing to a sharply lower start Monday on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.47% tipped to open 333 points lower. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.48% was indicated to open down 44 points and Nasdaq 100 to open 51 points weaker.

"Thrift will now replace leverage," said David Roche, president of Independent Strategy. He said the unwinding is still in the early stages throughout the financial system.

"The process of destroying bank capital is about three-quarters done, but the fallout from that has only just begun," he said.

The U.S. dollar, which had ended with gains last week, fell to 105.34 yen at mid-afternoon in Singapore, from 107.90 yen late Friday in New York.

Gold bullion for October delivery jumped $11 to $772.00 an ounce in electronic trading. Crude oil for October delivery fell below the $100 threshold, hitting $96.81 a barrel, down $4.37 for the session.

Asian stocks appeared to draw little support from the announcement that Bank of America BAC, -1.32% had agreed to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. MER, +27.69% for roughly $29 a share, following a frenzied 48-hour negotiation. The boards of the two firms have approved the merger.

However, reports of new liquidity-pumping measures seemed to provide some support, helping lift stocks from session lows, although the mood among market participants remained gloomy.

The Wall Street Journal reported that given Lehman's situation, the Federal Reserve is expected to expand its lending facilities, taking a wider array of securities -- including equities -- as collateral for loans.

A group of global banks and securities firms, including J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group, said early Monday they would back a $70 billion loan program designed to help financial companies access lines of credit.

"This only compounds the flight to safety that we've been seeing in markets over the past several weeks," said David Cohen, Singapore-based director of Asia economic forecasting at Action Economic, referring to the faltered plan to rescue Lehman.

Stocks in focus

Shares of National Australia Bank (NAB) were down 4.8%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) fell 2.4%, and infrastructure manager Babcock & Brown (BNB) tumbled 16.8%.

Shares of Centro Properties Group (CNP) tumbled 31.4% after the shopping-mall operator said an independent investor had backed out of a $714 million sales agreement to buy some assets held in its Centro America Fund.

Singapore-listed DBS Group Holdings saw its shares fall 3.3%, while Taipei-listed Cathay Financial was down as much as 4.9%

In the resource sector, shares of Woodside Petroleum (WPL) fell 1.2%, and Rio Tinto RTP (RIO) firmed 0.2%.

Gold miners were among standouts, with shares of Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM) surging 8.2%.