HONG KONG, Dec 2: Asia’s markets took a battering Tuesday on fears a US recession could run deep after another batch of miserable economic news from the world’s biggest economy.

The region’s markets were in turmoil as investors sold off stocks following an eight per cent overnight fall on Wall Street, which lost almost eight per cent as the world’s biggest economy was officially said to be contracting.

A 100 basis points interest rate cut in Australia and further economy-boosting measures announced in Japan were not enough to instill confidence in traders. Tokyo’s Nikkei slumped 6.35 per cent, Sydney 4.2 per cent and Hong Kong five per cent.

Japan’s central bank meanwhile outlined new measures to make it easier for commercial banks to borrow money using corporate debt as collateral, aiming to unclog credit channels that are vital to the economy.

But the moves had no impact on the markets. The Nikkei has lost 48 per cent this year, Sydney is down 44 per cent, Hong Kong is off about 52 per cent and the Dow Jones has lost nearly 39 per cent.

TOKYO: Japanese shares plunged 6.35 per cent.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index plunged 533.53 points to finish at 7,863.69.

The broader Topix index of all first section issues shed 40.35 points, or 4.88 per cent, to end at 787.12.As well as the news on the US economy investors here were also worried by a report in the Wall Street Journal that investment bank Goldman Sachs is set to report a quarterly loss of two billion dollars.

Japanese shares were also pressured by a stronger yen, which was changing hands at 93.41 to the dollar, supported by renewed risk aversion.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed 5.0 per cent lower.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 702.99 points at 13,405.85 after trading between 13,344.60 and 13,513.50. Turnover was light at 38.50 billion Hong Kong dollars (4.94 billion US).

HSBC fell 6.4 per cent to 79.00 dollars, contributing to a 138.5-point decline on the index, while China Mobile dropped 3.4 per cent to $70.30.

Upstream oil company CNOOC ended 8.5 per cent lower at $5.95 as oil prices fell below US$50 a barrel.

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed down 4.2 per cent.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 fell 153 points to 3,528.2 while the broader All Ordinaries lost 145.6 points to 3,473.4.

A total of 1.08 billion shares valued at $3.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) was traded.

Woodside Petroleum was off 10.47 per cent at 32.14 and Santos was down 2.71 per cent at 14.00.

Commonwealth Bank lost 5.3 per cent to 31.25, NAB was down 3.65 per cent at 18.72, ANZ fell 2.99 per cent to 13.95 and Westpac shed 4.96 per cent at 16.10.

SINGAPORE: Singapore shares closed 3.02 per cent lower.

Singapore Airlines sank 26 cents to 10.28 Singapore dollars, Singapore Telecommunications was off eight cents to 2.42 and ST Engineering fell six cents to 2.23.

DBS added 10 cents to 9.18, United Overseas Bank fell 70 cents to 12.00 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp was off nine cents to 4.92.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shares closed 0.3 per cent lower.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 2.68 points to end the day at 845.75.

TMI was down 3.2 per cent at 3.58 ringgit, Gamuda shed 3.6 per cent at 1.60 ringgit and Public Bank was down 1.8 per cent at 8.25 ringgit.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares ended 2.6 per cent lower.

The Jakarta Composite Index fell 31.77 points to 1,191.36.

Coal-mining giant Bumi Resources fell 9.6 per cent to 850 rupiah on profit taking.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares closed 1.18 per cent lower.

The benchmark NZX-50 index fell 31.78 points to 2,651.15.

Contact Energy fell 20 cents to 6.50 dollars, and Fletcher Building lost 17 cents to 5.38.

Market leader Telecom rose a cent to $2.34. Auckland International Airport was down eight cents at $1.64 and stock exchange operator NZX fell 10 cents to $5.55 after reporting a sharp fall in activity.

MUMBAI: Indian shares fell 1.14 per cent. The benchmark 30-share Sensex fell 100.63 points to 8,739.24 -- near a three-year low.—AFP