Japanese shares went into free fall on Wednesday as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared to be closing in on  the White House.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index plummeted 5.4 percent, or 919.84 points, to 16,251.54 after a wild day of trading, while the Topix index of all first-section issues dropped 4.57 percent, or 62.33 points, to 1,301.16.