The Associated Press
Published: August 17, 2007
TOKYO: Asian shares tumbled again Friday, with the Tokyo benchmark nose-diving 5.4 percent, as the region showed little sign of staging a recovery amid a global sell-off over U.S. credit fears. European stocks, meanwhile, were mixed in early trade.
The dollar's decline that worsened earnings prospects for Japanese companies added to the battering Tokyo's benchmark has been taking in recent sessions, sending the Nikkei 225 index crashing 874.81 points, or 5.4 percent, to close at 15,273.68, its lowest close in a year.
Hong Kong's blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 1.4 percent , and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 3.2 percent after dropping 6.9 percent the previous session.
In early European trade, Britain's FTSE is up 0.66 percent, France's CAC 40 index is up 0.39 percent and Germany's DAX is down 0.05 percent.
Some Asian markets tried to buck the regional trend with early bargain-hunting but quickly began falling as Tokyo's slide deepened throughout the day. Japanese shares, already weakened by the spreading U.S. loan crisis, were hit hard again by a strengthening yen.
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"The fear factor has overtaken people," said Song Sen Wun, regional economist at CIMB-GK Research Pte. Ltd., adding that people could realize that the fears are overblown as quickly as Monday.
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