Asian markets dropped sharply lower on Thursday. South Korea's benchmark stock index fell for the first time in six sessions today following declines on Wall Street. The won fell 3.6 per cent.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 52.19 points, or 4.4 per cent, to 1,129.31 within the first hour of trading. The Kospi at one point had declined as much as 5.3 per cent.
In New York yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 486.01, or 5.05 per cent, to 9,139.27 in a volatile session following the US presidential election as investors focused again on fears of a deep and protracted recession in the world's largest economy.
Last week, the Dow rose 11.3 per cent, its biggest weekly gain since 1974.
The Kospi has declined 40 per cent so far this year as foreign investors have fled South Korean stocks. The outbreak of the global financial crisis accelerated losses at one point to over 50 per cent.
A series of policy measures by the South Korean government and recent gains on Wall Street, however, have helped stabilise local stocks. The Kospi had risen for five straight sessions through yesterday.
Japanese stocks tumbled more than five per cent in early trade today after Wall Street suffered
a heavy sell-off overnight on renewed worries about the outlook for the global economy.
The drop wiped out the gains seen a day earlier as hopes grew that US president-elect Barack Obama will get to work on fixing the world's largest economy in the face of the worst financial crisis in decades.
The benchmark Nikkei-225 index was down 486.46 points or 5.11 per cent at 9,034.78 by mid-morning, off a low of 8,979.02.