By DPA
Frankfurt : The global sell-off of shares entered a second day Tuesday with stock markets across Europe falling again in highly volatile early trading, amid fears that the sharp drop in world bourses could trigger a global economic crisis.
After Black Monday when European stock markets chalked up the biggest one-day losses since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, Europe’s blue-chip Stoxx 50 index was down 1.5 percent by mid-morning after plummeting about 3.0 percent as Tuesday’s trading commenced.
Several national European stock markets posted even bigger drops, plunging by about 4.0 percent in early trading as another round of dramatic falls across Asia again snowballed into Europe.
In mid-morning trading, Frankfurt’s DAX was off 3.4 percent with Paris’ CAC slumping 1.1 percent at the opening.
Tokyo’s Nikkei posted a 5.7 percent fall to close at its lowest point since September 2005 Tuesday as worries that a strong yen would undercut the country’s exports compounded the deepening sense of concern about the global economic outlook.
The stock market in Shanghai sunk 8.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Heng Seng index cascaded down 7.2 percent Tuesday and Sydney’s all-ords dropped 7.3 percent. Taiwan stocks plunged 6 percent Tuesday.
India’s benchmark Sensex crashed by 12.48 per cent Tuesday morning to record its biggest-ever single-day loss.
The 30-share Sensex tumbled by 2,197.84 points to 15,407.51, after it resumed trading at noon.
Trading had been suspended for an hour after the stock exchange lost 2,029 points, or 11.53 percent, soon after it opened.
Worries about the global economic outlook also again resulted in a further fall in the oil price, which was down 1.7 percent to $86.50 a barrel in early European trading.
Gold also sank again Tuesday falling 0.3 percent to $859.20 an ounce.