Japan quake, tsunami take dire toll on economy

TOKYO: The Bank of Japan stood ready to prop up the financial system amid fears the Tokyo stock market will nosedive when trading opens Monday following the disasters that killed thousands and devastated the country's northeast.

Preliminary estimates put repair costs from the earthquake and tsunami in the tens of billions of dollars - a huge blow for an economy that lost its place as the world's No. 2 to China last year, and was already in a fragile state.