The crisis over the US downgrade sent Asian markets spiralling deeper into the red for the second straight day today, with stocks in Hong Kong and South Korea falling by more than 6%.
The Indian markets were relatively better placed, with an about 2% fall in early morning trade, while stocks in Japan, Taiwan and China, as well as Pacific markets like Australia and New Zealand, were trading deeper in the red.
In their first trading session after the US witnessed its first-ever sovereign rating downgrade, the American market plunged sharply last night to register its worst fall since December, 2008.
The US market's benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index plunged by 635 points on Monday, marking its sixth biggest one-day fall in more than 100 years.
The weak cues from the US led to the continued meltdown on Asian bourses this morning, experts said.
While the fall in Hong Kong and South Korea was more than 6%, Australia and New Zealand fell by 3-4%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index was also down by more than 4%.
Investors across the world are worried that mounting debt worries in the US and Europe would affect the overall investor sentiment, while exports from many Asian countries could be severely hit in the wake of the deepening economic crisis in Western countries.