Asian stocks tumbled today as investors reeled from another ugly day on Wall Street yesterday, where the broad equity market dived to new five-year lows on worries about corporate profits and accounting scandals.
Shares sank almost three per cent in Japan and nearly four per cent in Hong Kong, sending benchmark gauges in both countries crashing through the 10,000 level after US shares slumped for a fourth session running.
Australia, Singapore and Taiwan lost two per cent or more, while the South Korean market dived almost four per cent.
The dollar retreated, while US treasuries jumped.
Dashing hopes that US shares were nearing a floor, the Nasdaq Composite Index dived 4.2 per cent and the Standard & Poor's 500 tumbled 2.7 per cent to lows unseen since April 1997. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1 per cent.
Citigroup Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Inc. tumbled as concerns grew that the two largest US banking companies may have offered to other firms the type of disguised loans used by bankrupt energy trader Enron.
The immediate outlook for US stocks remained uncertain. Dow and S&P futures were down about 0.6 per cent, with those for the Nasdaq 100 off 0.2 per cent.