European mkts bleed, Asian rout unabated

The sell-off in the Asian market continued unabated on purported cancellation of yen-carry trades.

The Nikkei index in Japan closed with a sharp drop of 576 points (over 3%) at 16,642 today - its biggest one-day drop in nine months.

The European markets, too, seems to be headed down for the day. Britain''s FTSE 100 index has slipped 1.5% to 6026. While Germany's DAXX is down 2%, France's CAC is down nearly 1.8%.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down nearly 4% (769 points) at 18,673. The Strait Times in Singapore was down nearly 4% at 2957. The Shanghai index was down 1.6% at 2785.