The Nikkei 225 stock index sank on Tuesday following the collapse of Japan's ruling coalition on Friday and an escalation of the U.S.-China trade war over the three-day holiday weekend.

The benchmark fell as much as 1,500 points, and closed the day down 2.58%, at 46,847.32.

Electronics and artificial intelligence companies fell across the board, with SoftBank Group shares sinking by 6.14%. Advantest was down 4.68%, and Fujitsu dropped 3.06%.