2012.05.07 03:34:02 *Vietnam Gold Shops Quote Dollar At VND20,830-VND20,850, Unchanged From Friday

By Daniel Inman Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--European elections led to a flight to safety by investors in Asia, sending the euro down against the dollar and the yen. That sent Japanese stocks tumbling, pushing the Nikkei down 2.8% to its lowest level since Feb. 15. Investors were also digesting poor economic data from the U.S. late on Friday, with oil down after disappointing nonfarm payroll data. Commodity companies were sharply lower, with BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals both down by 3.9%, pulling Australia's S&P/ASX200 index 1.6% lower. Japan was reopening after two days of public holidays last week, with companies holding exposure to Europe falling. Honda Motor was down 3.87% and Nomura was 4.95% lower. Investors fretted as Francois Hollande was elected as France's president, giving the country a Socialist leader, while Greek voters delivered a stinging rejection of the country's two incumbent parties. The euro fell to 1.2955 against the dollar in early trading and recently traded at 1.2983. The single currency also fell to its lowest level against the yen since Feb. 16, trading at Y103.40. -By Daniel Inman, Dow Jones Newswires; daniel.inman@dowjones.com TALK BACK: We invite readers to send us comments on this or other financial news topics. Please email us at TalkbackAsia@dowjones.com. Readers should include their full names, work or home addresses and telephone numbers for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit and publish your comments along with your name; we reserve the right not to publish reader comments. (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 06, 2012 21:47 ET (01:47 GMT)