The average commission on an Asian stock trade fell to 0.11% of trade value last year, from 0.14% in 2007, data from McKinsey showed.

WSJ: Asian Brokers Benefit From Rising Stock-Trading Volumes

"It was a very fast-moving market today, but the data for trading volume and value, while robust, were not terribly high relative to last Thursday's selloff, " said Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager for research at Chibagin Asset Management.

WSJ: 5.2% Drop Takes Tokyo Stocks Into a Correction