Asian Markets Tumble Again on Recession Fears

Asian stocks tumbled for a second day Thursday as a barrage of downbeat company forecasts deepened fears of a global recession. Every major regional benchmark was in the red. Japan's Nikkei lost 5.5% to 8,195.74, on top of a 6.8% drop yesterday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 662.89, or 4.65 percent, at 13,603.71. The Hang Seng hadn't closed under 14,000 since 2005.

Asia's downward lurch followed the lead of Wall Street, which shed 514 points Wednesday. In South Korea, the Kospi plummeted 8.6 percent to 1,036, along with another steep slide in the country's currency, the won. Australia's key index pulled back almost 4 percent as slumping world commodity prices sent resource companies such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group sharply lower. (More Nikkei 225 Stock Average stories.)