Shares volatile on recession fear

Investors have seen another volatile trading day after a slew of weak corporate earnings stoked fears on Wall Street of a United States recession.

The main Dow Jones index fell as low as 8,251 points before closing the day up 172 points or 2% at 8,691.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq in contrast lost 0.73% to close at 1,603.9 points.

London's FTSE 100 index closed 1.16% higher at 4087.8, while in Germany the Dax index ended up 1.12% and France's Cac 40 index was 0.38% higher.

It was the Dow's first rise in three days, and analysts suggested that it was due to higher oil prices, which boosted energy-related shares.

US light crude added $1.63 to reach $68.38 a barrel, after falling as low as $66.73 a barrel - its lowest point since June 2007.

The rise in oil prices followed comments by Chakib Khelil, the president of oil cartel Opec, who said member states had agreed in principle on cutting back oil production. However, the amount of cutbacks has yet to be agreed.

'Credit tsunami'

Earlier in the day frail investor confidence had been knocked by a speech by former Federal Reserve boss Alan Greenspan, who said the world was continuing to face a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami" which would have a severe impact on the US economy.

Weak US trading statements came from companies including Starwood Hotels, which predicts that it will see room occupancy fall in the last three months of the year.

Meanwhile, United Parcel Service predicts its deliveries for the same period will fall 4%.

On the jobs front, the US Labor Department reported that new applications for unemployment benefit rose by a larger-than-expected 15,000 last week to a seasonally-adjusted 478,000.

Asian falls

Investors are now increasingly concerned about the global economy and how long the financial crisis will endure. In other key market developments:

• South Korea's Kospi index fell 7.4%, its lowest close since July 2005. The Korean won lost 5% of its value against the dollar
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 4.7%, at its lowest ebb since April 2005
• At one point, the Nikkei was trading at 8,016.61, its lowest level for more than five years. It recovered to close down 213 points or 2.5% at 8,460 points
• The yen strengthened against the dollar and the euro overnight. The dollar hit a seven-month low of 96.85 yen, while the euro hit a six-year low of 123.40 yen
• Indian shares opened down 4.8% at their lowest since June 2006. The rupee has so far shed nearly 21% against the dollar in 2008
• In Australia, the benchmark index closed down 4.4%.