LONDON - STOCK MARKETS across the globe plunged on Monday amid
growing alarm over the world's financial system following a
seismic shakeup on Wall Street, with Lehman Brothers declaring
bankruptcy and Meryll Lynch being sold to Bank of America
The US Federeal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of
England injected tens of billions of dollars into money markets
after the fall of the two massive financial titans under the weight
of the massive financing of bad loans.
In Europe, the FTSE-100 share index was down 4 percent in London,
the Paris CAC-40 was off 4.5 percent and Germany's DAX 30 index of
blue chips sagged 3.23 percent.
The dollar sank against the euro, which rose to $1.4299 from $1.4215
late Friday in New York. The pound rose against the dollar to $1.8052
from $1.7937. The US currency fell to 105.69 yen from 107.92 yen late
Friday.
Financial shares were hard hit, with shares in Halifax-Bank of Scotland
down more than 13 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland was down 6.3 percent,
and Barclays, which had considered a combination with Lehman Brothers
but walked away, was down 10 percent.
Shares in Switzerland saw similar declines. The country's two biggest
banks fell sharply, with USB down more than 7 percent and Credit Suisse
down 5.5 percent. Reinsurer Swiss RE fell more than 5 percent in early
trading on Monday.
Asia's biggest stock exchange in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea were
closed for holidays, but every market open was deep in the red.
India's Sensex tumbled 5.4 percent, Taiwan's benchmark plummeted
4.1 percent, Australia's key index was down 2 percent and Singapore
dropped 2.0 percent.
But the worst hit among Asia's bourses was Jakarta, which was down 4.7
percent. The blue-chip Philippine index fell 4.2 percent.
Investors fearful that the financial distress could spread to Asia
also sent regional bank stocks plunging. Macquire Group Ltd.,
Australia's largest investment bank, plummeted 9.6 percent. In Taiwan,
Shin KOng Financial Holding lost 6.9 percent.
In the first minutes of trading, Dow fell 300.11, or 2.63 percent,
to 11,121.88. Broader stock indicators also fell sharply. The Standard
and & Poor's 500 index fell 17.83, or 1.42 percent, to 1,233.87, and
the Nasdaq composite index fell 59.19, or 2.62 percent, to 2,202.08
