Asian markets fall; Tokyo down 5.4 pct. By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer

Asian markets fall; Tokyo down 5.4 pct. By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer
27 minutes ago



TOKYO - Asian shares tumbled again Friday, with the Tokyo benchmark nose-diving 5.4 percent, as the region showed little sign of staging a recovery amid a global sell-off over U.S. credit fears. European stocks, meanwhile, were mixed in early trade.

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The dollar's decline that worsened earnings prospects for Japanese companies added to the battering Tokyo's benchmark has been taking in recent sessions, sending the Nikkei 225 index crashing 874.81 points, or 5.4 percent, to close at 15,273.68, its lowest close in a year.

Hong Kong's blue chip Hang Seng Index was down as much as 5.2 percent midafternoon, and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 3.19 percent after dropping 6.9 percent the previous session.

In early European trade, Britain's FTSE is up 1.1 percent, France's CAC 40 index is up 0.6 percent and Germany's DAX is down 0.25 percent.

Some Asian markets had tried to buck the trend on early bargain-hunting but quickly began falling across the board, continuing a worldwide sell-off that has hit recently over the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.

"The fear factor has overtaken people," said Song Sen Wun, regional economist at CIMB-GK Research Pte. Ltd., adding that people could realize that the fears are overblown as quickly as Monday.

"Whether this is a case of blind panic remains to be seen," he said by telephone from Singapore.

Taiwan main stock benchmark fell 1.4 percent to a three-month low at 8,090.29. Philippine 30-company stock index closed at a new low for the year, losing 2 percent to its lowest level since Dec. 27.

New Zealand's NZX-50 index shed 1.6 percent in a rush of selling in the last hour of trading. Shares were also down in Australia, India, Malaysia, Singapore and China.

Credit Suisse Chief Strategist Shinichi Ichikawa said any bad news ahead, such as a bank abroad faltering, could worsen the market jitters.

"The next couple of weeks will be a very tough time for global financial markets," he said.

Earlier Friday, Japan's central bank injected $10.5 billion into money markets — the third injection this week and triple the amount it injected the day before — in a bid to curb rises in key interest rates.

Central banks in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan have injected tens of billions of dollars into money markets since Aug. 9, when stocks tumbled because of worries over U.S. subprime mortgage problems. So, far the extra money, meant to ease concerns about a credit crunch, has been unable to halt the global sell-off.

In Japan, a further fall of the dollar against the yen led stocks lower. A weak dollar hurts Japan's giant exporters like Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. by reducing the value of their overseas earnings when converted into yen. A weak dollar also makes Japanese exports more expensive abroad.

The dollar slid to 111.80 yen by late afternoon, down from 113.11 yen late Thursday in New York. That's the dollar's lowest level since June 2006, and breaks an overnight low of 112.01.

The Japanese yen has gained sharply this week as investors buy the currency to pay back low-interest yen loans they had used to invest in emerging markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average Thursday closed down just 16 points after falling more than 340 points during the day, pulling off a dramatic late-session turnaround on massive bargain-hunting.