Updated on
Summary The KSE plummeted as 100 Index shed 500 points during today's morning session.
Asian stock markets tumbled Friday as investors dumped riskier assets amid fears the US is heading back into recession and Europes debt crisis is worsening.The sell-off in Asia followed the biggest one-day points decline on Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis.Japans Nikkei 225 stock average slid 3.4 percent to 9,335.26 and Hong Kongs Hang Seng shed 4.1 percent to 20,989.28.Australias S&P/ASX 200 was off 4 percent at 4,107.20, Taiwans Taiex sank 4.2 percent to 7,967.38 and Seouls Kospi dropped 2.8 percent to 1,961.79.Growing fear about the weakening US economy was joined by concern in Europe that the troubled economies of Italy and Spain might need help from the European Union.But some analysts said the sell-off was not a repeat of 2008 when a banking and credit crisis sent markets into a prolonged tailspin.Traders also unloaded stocks before Fridays release of the US governments unemployment report for July, which is expected to show weak job growth and perhaps a rise in the unemployment rate, which is 9.2 percent.For the day, the Dow closed down 512.76 points, at 11,383.68. It was the steepest point decline since Dec. 1, 2008.Thursdays decline was the ninth-worst by points for the Dow. In percentage terms, the decline of 4.3 percent does not rank among the worst. On Black Monday in 1987, for example, the Dow fell 22 percent.Benchmark oil for September delivery was down $1.16 at $85.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $5.30, or 5.8 percent, to settle at $86.63 on Thursday.Meanwhile, the benchmark 30-share Sensex index on the Bombay Stock Exchange dropped 473.55 points to a days low of 17,219.63 in morning trade.
