Asian markets sink deeper into red on US downgrade worries

The Indian markets were relatively better placed, with an about 2 per cent fall in early morning trade, while stocks in Japan, Taiwan and China, as well as Pacific markets like Australia and New Zealand, were trading deeper in the red.

In their first trading session after the US witnessed its first-ever sovereign rating downgrade, the American market plunged sharply last night to register its worst fall since December, 2008.

The US market's benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index plunged by 635 points on Monday, marking its sixth biggest one-day fall in more than 100 years.
The weak cues from the US led to the continued meltdown on Asian bourses this morning, experts said.

While the fall in Hong Kong and South Korea was more than 6 per cent, Australia and New Zealand fell by 3-4 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index was also down by more than 4 per cent.

Investors across the world are worried that mounting debt worries in the US and Europe would affect the overall investor sentiment, while exports from many Asian countries could be severely hit in the wake of the deepening economic crisis in Western countries.