MSM: World Markets Slide Further; Japan’s Nikkei Hits 26-Year Low

HONG KONG — World markets resumed their slide Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei stock index falling to a 26-year low, as government rescue measures failed to ease fears of a prolonged global recession.

Asia/Pacific Huge Loss’s for Oct. 16th

^AORD	All Ordinaries	3,988.10 1:11AM ET	284.40 (6.66%)	Components, Chart, More
^SSEC	Shanghai Composite	1,909.94 3:00AM ET	84.73 (4.25%)	Chart, More
^HSI	Hang Seng	15,230.52 5:59AM ET	767.78 (4.80%)	Components, Chart, More
^BSESN	BSE 30	10,581.49 6:28AM ET	227.63 (2.11%)	Chart, More
^JKSE	Jakarta Composite	1,463.25 6:34AM ET	57.16 (3.76%)	Components, Chart, More
^KLSE	KLSE Composite	920.02 5:02AM ET	29.86 (3.14%)	Components, Chart, More
^N225	Nikkei 225	8,458.45 3:00AM ET	1,089.02 (11.41%)	Chart, More
^NZ50	NZSE 50	2,764.69 12:31AM ET	139.95 (4.82%)	Components, Chart, More
^STI	Straits Times	1,951.20 5:10AM ET	108.19 (5.25%)	Components, Chart, More
^KS11	Seoul Composite	1,213.78 5:03AM ET	126.50 (9.44%)	Components, Chart, More
^TWII	Taiwan Weighted	5,075.97 1:46AM ET	170.29 (3.25%)	Chart, More

Worst week for global markets since 1929

World stock markets plummeted Friday, ending a week that saw the biggest collapse in share values since 1929. The looming threat of a world depression provided the backdrop for a meeting of finance ministers from the G7 industrialized countries, who gathered in Washington for emergency talks with US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke.

MSM: Japan suffers biggest single-day stock drop for 20 years

Asia’s financial crisis deepened today after Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell almost 10% in its biggest single-day drop for more than 20 years.

The world’s second-biggest economy was also rocked by the collapse of an established life insurer: Yamato Life Insurance becomes the country’s first major victim of the US credit crunch.

Asian stocks plunge on fears of global recession

TOKYO (AP) — A meltdown in confidence strangled Asian stock markets Wednesday on accelerating fears that the widening financial crisis could spawn a global recession.

After a miserable day on Wall Street when the Dow Jones industrials lost more than 500 points, investors from Tokyo to Mumbai, Seoul to Sydney dumped shares in a broad regional sell-off.

Anxious investors in Tokyo sent shares into a free-fall, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average plunging 9.4 percent — its biggest drop in 21 years — to 9,203.32, a five-year low.

MSM: CNN – World Markets – Asia Pacific + Australia

Asia Pacific & Australia N/A

		Index	Change	%Change	Level	Last Update *
	Australia	ASX 100	-188.40	-4.98%	3,594.10	10/8 4:47pm
	Australia	ASX All Ords	-228.10	-4.96%	4,369.80	10/8 4:47pm
	Australia	ASX Mid-cap 50	-237.80	-5.39%	4,176.70	10/8 4:47pm
	Hong Kong	Hang Seng	-1,372.03	-8.17%	15,431.73	10/8 4:49pm
	Hong Kong	HSCC Red Chip	-273.89	-8.54%	2,900.93	10/8 4:34pm
	Japan	Nikkei 225	-952.58	-9.38%	9,203.32	10/8 4:30pm

Panic grips global financial markets

The financial crisis, used to justify the $700 billion Wall Street bailout approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on Friday, deepened dramatically Monday, as stock markets around the world registered massive losses in panic selling.

It was the biggest global stock market crash since “Black Monday,” October 19, 1987, when exchanges around the world collapsed and the Dow Jones Industrial Average registered a loss of 22.6 percent, its largest ever single-day decline in percentage terms.

MSM: CNN – World stocks get hit

	Oct 6 7:06am†	Change	%Change	Level
	FTSE 100	-272.96	-5.48%	4,707.29
	XETRA-DAX	-322.07	-5.56%	5,474.96
	CAC 40	-250.71	-6.14%	3,830.04
	HANG SENG	-878.64	-4.97%	16,803.76
	NIKKEI 225	-465.05	-4.25%	10,473.09
	U.S. Dollar vs Euro	-0.0037	-0.27%	1.3592
	U.S. Dollar vs Yen	-1.8100	-1.72%	0.0097
	U.S. Dollar vs UK £	-0.00	-0.18%	1.76