HONG KONG, Nov 18:Asian stock markets tumbled on Tuesday as fears of a painful global recession were reinforced after US banking giant Citigroup slashed 50,000 jobs and the financial crisis showed no sign of easing.

A day after Japan announced it was officially in recession its economics minister said he had “no confidence at all” that the world's second biggest economy would recover any time soon.

Tokyo's Nikkei index lost 2.28 percent, while Hong Kong, which announced it was in recession Friday, dived 4.5 per cent and Sydney lost 3.6 per cent.

The losers were led by Shanghai, which plummeted 6.31 per cent due to profit-taking following four days of strong gains on the back of optimism generated by the announcement of Beijing's 586 billion dollar stimulus package last week.

Concerns over the future of the world economy were battered after Citigroup said it was to get rid of 50,000 -- about 20 per cent -- of its staff worldwide compared with a peak level of 375,000 in late 2007.

Banking giant HSBC said it had cut 450 staff in Hong Kong in anticipation of a deteriorating global economy.

TOKYO: Japanese stocks lost 2.28 per cent.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 194.17 points to 8,328.41. The Topix index of all first section issues fell 15.05 points, or 1.77 per cent, to 835.44.

Banking shares were under pressure. Mitsubishi UFJ shares lost 6.7 per cent to 546 yen and Mizuho Financial Group fell 4.3 per cent to 229,800 yen.

After the market close, Mitsubishi UFJ said its net profit sank 64 per cent in the six months to September.

Mazda Motor rose 6.4 percent to 184 yen as dealers mulled a report -- confirmed after the close of trade -- that top shareholder Ford Motor has decided to sell a 20 per cent stake in Japan's fifth largest automaker.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 4.5 per cent lower.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 613.64 points at 12,915.89, after falling as much as 6.3 per cent in the afternoon session. Turnover was light at 44.84 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.75 billion US). All 42 blue chips were in the red.

Chinese insurance giant Ping An plunged 11.95 per cent and shipping conglomerate China Merchants was down 9.80 per cent.

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed down 3.6 per cent.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 dropped 129.8 points to 3,523.2, its lowest level since August 25 2004, while the broader All Ordinaries lost 126.4 points to 3,513.1.

A total of 1.29 billion shares worth 4.6 billion dollars (US$3.0 billion) was traded, with 240 stocks up, 776 stocks down and 300 unchanged.

Banks and miners led the market down, while the country's biggest investment bank Macquarie Group bucked the trend with a well-received interim report.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 3.26 per cent lower.

The blue chip Straits Times Index fell 57.12 points to 1,692.55. Volume totalled 1.00 billion shares worth 862.68 million Singapore dollars (564.64 million US).

Singapore's small and open economy, which relies heavily on international trade, is likely to be hit hard by the escalating global economic slump.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.1 per cent lower.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 0.97 of a point to close at 883.09.

Plantation company KL Kepong was down 2.4 percent at 8.20 ringgit and LCL Corp shed 9.9 percent at 82 sen.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares fell 3.8 per cent.

The Jakarta Composite Index slipped 47.07 points to 1,189.86.

The main index has fallen 57 percent since the start of the year, while market capitalisation has dropped 48 per cent from the start of 2008 to 987.4 trillion rupiah ($82 billion).

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 1.00 per cent lower.

The benchmark NZX-50 index fell 27.33 points to close at 2,714.59.

Market leader Telecom fell eight cents to $2.34 and Contact Energy was down five cents at 7.20.

Fletcher Building rose eight cents to $5.72 .

MUMBAI: Indian shares fell 3.81 per cent.

The benchmark 30-share Sensex fell 353.81 points to 8,937.2, at a near three-year low.—AFP