Global stocks slump on European debt crisis

The investor sentiment was further battered by the overnight fall on Wall Street, reportedly due to some trading glitches which saw the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting nearly 350 points.

Right from Tokyo to London, stock markets tumbled by one to three per cent on increasing prospects of Greek debt contagion enveloping many European nations. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped over three per cent to 10,364.59 points while South Korea's Kospi declined more than two per cent to 1,647.50 points.

On weak global cues, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell one per cent to 19,920.29 points and Australia's key S&P/ASX 200 Index shed two per cent to 4,480.70 points. India's Sensex dropped 1.29 per cent to end the day at 16,769.11 points.

In Europe, all the major markets, including the UK and France, were in the red in the afternoon session. France's benchmark Cac 40 plunged 2.17 per cent to 3,478.87 points while London Stock Exchange's FTSE 100 declined one per cent to 5,206.43 points.
Germany's Dax Index went down 1.31 per cent to 5,831.06 points.

Even though Greece is likely to get a 110 billion euro bailout package from other European nations and the IMF, investors are worried about the debt contagion spreading across Europe.Yesterday, global rating agency Moody's warned that Greek debt crisis could impact banking systems in many European countries including the UK, Spain and Portugal.

Meanwhile, Wall Street witnessed one of the worst sessions yesterday, as the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average crashed over 1,000 points, due to some technical problems, before closing 347 points down at 10,520.32 points.
The broader S&P 500 index and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell over three per cent to 1,128.15 points and 2,319.64 points, respectively.