Asia markets plunge amid recession fears

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets plummeted on Friday morning following carnage in the US and European markets amid fears the world was heading towards another financial crisis.

Major markets in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea tumbled as already-fragile investor confidence was hammered by more weak US economic data and growing fears that Italy and Spain might need to be bailed out.

"It's going to be a very ugly end to an even uglier week," IG Markets analyst Ben Potter said in Sydney, adding that all sectors were expected to take a battering.

Tokyo dived 3.36 by the break, Hong Kong plummeted 4.67 percent, Sydney slumped 4.10 percent by noon, Seoul tumbled 3.62 percent and Taipei shed 5.15 percent. Shanghai slipped 1.80 percent.

Fear swept across Asia from Europe and the United States, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst one-day drop since December 2008 to close 4.3 percent lower at 11,383.68, erasing all this year's gains.

The broader S&P 500 dropped 4.8 percent to end the day at 1,200.07, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dived 5.1 percent to 2,556.39.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 3.43 percent, retreating to levels last seen in September 2010, while in Frankfurt the DAX fell 3.40 percent, and France's CAC 40 dropped 3.90 percent.

Weak jobs data out of the United States on Thursday fuelled concerns among some analysts that the world could be heading towards another recession following the 2008 financial crisis.

The US Labor Department reported that weekly claims for unemployment benefits remained at a high 400,000 last week.

Eyes will be on the United States later Friday when Washington releases key government jobs data and a weaker-than-expected result could lead to a further sell-off.

In Europe, investor sentiment remained plagued by worries that debt-laden Italy and Spain could be engulfed by the fast-moving eurozone debt crisis.

The European Central Bank announced Thursday that it would resume emergency credit-easing measures, some of which were last enacted at the height of the financial crisis.

But the ECB's efforts still failed to restore confidence. The risk premium investors demand to buy Spanish 10-year bonds over safe-bet German debt shot back up to near a record high on Thursday.

The eurozone debt crisis has put Italy and Spain under huge pressure in recent weeks after Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to be bailed out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

On currency markets the dollar held some of the gains it made against the yen Thursday after Tokyo stepped in to sell the Japanese unit as it edged towards a record high.

The greenback was at 78.84 yen, after rising close to 80 yen in the first few hours after Tokyo's intervention.

The euro fell to 111.17 yen from 111.27 yen late in New York on Thursday, while it gained to $1.4105 from $1.4100.

"The fear of a double-dip recession with the slowdown in the US and the sovereign debt situation in Europe is having everybody biting their nails," said Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist of Deutsche Bank.

Gold scored a new record at $1,681.72 per ounce on the spot market in New York as investors flocked to the precious metal, regarded as a safe bet in times of economic turmoil. It later retreated to $1,647.57.

Gold opened at $1,643.00-$1,644.00 an ounce in Hong Kong. (AFP)