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Asian markets plunge after huge Wall Street losses

TOKYO - A massive sell-off on Wall Street and an escalating global equity crisis sent Asian stocks plunging Friday, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index tumbling more than 10 percent.

"Selling is unstoppable in New York and Tokyo," said Yutaka Miura, senior strategist at Shinko Securities Co. Ltd. in Tokyo. "Investors were gripped by fear."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled more than 8 percent, South Korea's Kospi shed 7.4 percent, Shanghai's benchmark fell 4.1 percent, and Singapore's Straits Times index was off 7.0 percent. In Syndey, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was down 6.8 percent.

Friday's regional declines follow a 7.3 percent plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average Thursday to close below the 9,000-line for the first time in five years. Stocks nose-dived after a major credit-rating agency said it might cut its rating on General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., further rattling investors already fretting over the impact of tight credit on the economy.

The Dow's 2,271-point tumble over the last seven sessions is its steepest seven-day point drop ever. Its seven-day percentage decline of 20.9 percent is the largest since the seven-day plunge ending Oct. 26, 1987, when the Dow lost 23.8 percent. That sell-off included Black Monday, the Oct. 19, 1987 market crash that saw the Dow fall nearly 23 percent in a single day.

Lucinda Chan, associate director of Macquarie Equities in Sydney, called the market moves "ghastly."

"It is a very different and very unprecedented climate at the moment," she said. "Growth is going to be a major concern in this market and that is why the Australian market is getting a very hard pinch because we are a commodity export nation."

Miura in Tokyo said the ongoing meltdown in global financial markets showed "confusion and uncertainty" among investors worldwide.

Asia's falls come as finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations prepared to meet later Friday in Washington.

"Investors are not so sure that the G7 will announce effective measures to contain the global financial crisis," Miura said.

In currencies, the dollar was hovering just above the 99-yen level Friday morning in Asia, strengthening from 98.82 yen late Thursday. The euro stood at $1.3595 from $1.3560.