European stock markets tumbled following steep falls in Asia today.
European stock markets tumbled following steep falls in Asia today. The FTSE 100 dropped to 4,010 by midday (GMT) losing 302.92, Frankfurt’s Dax lost 432.05 to 4,454.95 and France’s CAC 40 lost 283.43 to 3,159.27.
Following the sharp drop across Asia – Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 11 per cent, the second-biggest drop on record – the MSCI World Index fell by 3.7 per cent, taking its fall this week to 19 per cent, its worst week in more than three decades, driven by investors’ concern over the deepening credit crisis and the possibility of global recession.
Following a steep fall in the Mumbai market to 6.5 per cent in early trading, India’s central bank said it would make an additional USD 12.8bn available for the money markets.
Australian shares closed down 8.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index fell to a three-year low and in the Philippines share prices closed more than 8.3 per cent lower.
In Indonesia, plans to re-open the stock market were suspended in order to prevent “deeper panic”.
S&P 500 Index futures dropped 2.7 per cent, Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost 6.9 per cent, and the MSCI Asia Pacific dropped 6.4 per cent.
