South Korea tops Asian share fall

News of weak Japanese exports knocked shares

South Korea's share index has fallen 7.5% as fears of a global recession rattled Asian investors.

Seoul's benchmark Kospi was the hardest hit of the Asian indexes. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng closed 4.7% down while Japan's Nikkei index was 2.5% lower.

At one point, the Nikkei index was down more than 7% at 8,016, its lowest level since May 2003.

Fears grew that weak exports could push Japan into recession, amid news that its trade surplus plunged.

It was down 94% to 95.1bn yen ($970.1m; £596.7m) in September.

Export fears

In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell sharply as soon as the markets opened, and at one point was trading at 8,016.61, its lowest level for more than five years. It recovered to close down 213 points at 8,460 points.

The impact of the global slowdown has had a clear impact on Japan's exports Tatsushi Shikano, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities

Japan's benchmark index has now lost 30% of its value in the space of a month.

The latest fall came after news that the country's exports grew only 1.5% in September from a year earlier, far below forecasts. Exports of Japanese cars to the US fell.

The dollar hit a seven-month low against the yen, prompting fears that this will cause further damage to already weak exports.

"The impact of the global slowdown has had a clear impact on Japan's exports and this was even before the financial crisis erupted in September," Tatsushi Shikano, senior economist, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

"Sluggish export volumes will put a drag on Japan's industrial output and its export-reliant economy in the coming months," he added.

Shares in exporters tumbled, with shares in NEC down 12% after the electronics maker cut its annual operating profit forecast by a third.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Korean won lost 5% of its value against the dollar.

Indian shares opened down 4.8%, at their lowest since June 2006, with the rupee also tumbling to a record low.

Gloomy Wall Street

The plunge came in the wake of Wednesday's trading on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones index closed down 5.69%, amid an increasingly gloomy outlook for the global economy.

Job cuts at Yahoo and drugs firm Merck have increased economic concerns in the United States.

Wall Street stocks tumbled on fear of a global recession

Stocks were also dragged down by commodity stocks tracking weaker oil and copper prices.

Crude prices were down to 16-month lows on signs of falling demand. US light crude was down $5.52 to $66.66 a barrel, its lowest point since June 2007.

Brent crude was down $5.02 to $64.70 a barrel. Oil producers' cartel Opec is now expected to cut production when it meets on Friday to try to shore up prices.

"It appears that investors are rethinking their assumptions about the depth and duration of the recession," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at DA Davidson.

"They are recognising that the credit crisis has taken an annoying economic slowdown into something far more serious."

Investor sentiment was also hit by warnings from both UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Bank of England governor Mervyn King that Britain is likely to enter its first recession in 16 years.