Asian, European bourses tumble; Hang Seng, Kospi crash 7 pc

London, Nov 6 (PTI) A day after rallying on the election
of Barack Obama as U.S. President, Asian stocks retreated
Thursday as fears of economic downturn gripped investors, with
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng crashing over seven percent.

European bourses continued to plunge for the second
consecutive trading session even as the Bank of England and
European Central Bank slashed key interest rates.

The region's main indices-- U.K's F.T.S.E. 100, Germany's
Dax and France Cac 40, declined as much as four percent.

After witnessing stellar gains following the election of
Obama as the next U.S. President, Asian markets led by Hong
Kong, South Korea and Japan slumped into the red.

Hang Seng and Korea's Kospi plummeted more than seven per
cent. While Hang Seng closed at 13,790.04 points, down 7.08
percent ,Kospi fell 7.28 percent to 2,333.94 points.

Apart from economic worries, disappointing quarterly
results from auto giant Toyota weighed on Japanese markets.
The Nikkei 225 tumbled 6.53 percent to 8,899.14 points.

Toyota posted a 28 percent decline in profits for the
first quarter to 353.6 billion yen.

The firm's net income declined by 28 percent at 353.6
billion yen for the first quarter ended September 30,
mainly due to foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

The company had a net income of 491.5 billion yen in the
same quarter last fiscal, it said in a statement.

Further, India's 30-share Sensex closed in the negative
zone for the second day in a row. The benchmark index ended
the day at 9,734.22 points, down 3.81 percent.

Meanwhile, in another round of efforts to enhance
liquidity in the region, the Bank of England and the European
Central Bank reduced rates by 150 basis points and 50 basis
points, respectively.

U.K's apex bank cut the interest rate by 1.50 percentage
points to three per cent, reportedly the lowest since 1955.
Further, the European Central Bank cut the rate by 50 basis
points to 2.75 percent.

However, the moves which came later in the day, failed to
enthuse the markets in the European region.

London Stock Exchange's F.T.S.E. 100 was down 3.13
percent to 4,388.87 points while Germany's Dax dropped 4.30
per cent to 4,944.68 points.

Another main European index, France's Cac 40 skid 3.76
per cent to 3,482.25 points.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street went into a tailspin, with
the three major indices shedding over five percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 5.05 percent to
9,139.27 points and S&P 500 dipped 5.27 percent to 952.77
points.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 5.53 percent to 1,681.64
points.