By Michael Kitchen LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- After attempting a brief rebound, Asian stock markets ploughed lower in afternoon trade, with Japanese shares hit by dashed hopes for immediate action to stop the rise of the yen. Half an hour before the close, the Nikkei Average was down 2% and the Topix lower by 1.6%, while the yen rebounded, sending the dollar to ¥84.23 after rising to ¥84.35 earlier in the session. The drop came after a lunchtime meeting between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda failed to yield a plan to reverse the currency's recent gains. Japanese exporters suffered as a result, with Sony Corp. (JP:6758 2,406, -93.00, -3.72%) (SNE 28.07, -0.87, -3.01%) giving up a midday gain to trade down 1.5%, and Honda Motor Co. (JP:7267 2,805, 0.00, 0.00%) (HMC 32.54, +0.05, +0.15%) tumbling 3.2%. Hong Kong shares also dipped further, with the Hang Seng Index finishing the morning session down 0.4%. Chinese resource shares helped lead the drop there, with Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., or Chalco (ACH 19.79, -0.58, -2.85%) (HK:2600 6.10, -0.16, -2.56%) losing 3.2%, and Angang Steel Co. (HK:347 11.22, -0.16, -1.41%) (ANGGF 1.45, -0.02, -1.36%) giving up 1.4%. Elsewhere in Asia, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 extended its losses to 1.3% amid uncertainty over who would form the nation's next government, and Taiwan's Taiex lost 2.5% on weakness in financials and airlines. India's Sensex and S&P/CNX Nifty were each down 0.7%, South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.4%, and China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.3%.

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