The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 193.85 points or 2.22 percent to 8,543.81 in the first 10 minutes of trading after opening down 1.82 percent.

Global markets suffered heavy losses on Friday after the resignation of the European Central Bank chief economist Juergen Stark signalled more turmoil in the eurozone.

The Dow Jones Industrial Index and the S&P 500 finished the turbulent day both off 2.7 percent. Earlier, London's FTSE 100 index fell 2.4 percent; Paris's CAC 40 slid 3.6 percent, and in Frankfurt the DAX tumbled 4.0 percent.

The euro fetched $1.3615 in early Asian trade Monday, sinking from $1.3649 in New York late Friday. The dollar was at 77.52 yen, almost unchanged from New York.

Markets had a shock Friday when Stark announced his resignation "for personal reasons" well before the end of his term of office in May 2014.

Stark, known as an anti-inflation hawk, was critical of the bank's controversial programme of buying bonds of heavily indebted countries such as Greece who find the markets closed to them.

"Disagreements within the ECB are raising concerns that the debt problem resolution will be further delayed," said Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.

"Investors are also worried that a Greek default will weigh heavily on German and French banks," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

Finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven rich nations met in France on Friday.

They vowed tough measures to get the global economy back on track but were short on detail and admitted the problems were so complex that a unified response was impossible.