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New York - Wall Street suffered big declines again Thursday, heaping losses in share prices on top of Wednesday's sharp selloff.

The two-day losses on benchmark US stock indices is now the sharpest since 1987.

Thursday saw news of continued heavy job losses in the US economy.

"We're a long way from the end of the economic challenges," Mike Morcos, an investment manager at Old Second Wealth Management, told the Bloomberg financial news agency. "Earnings next year are going to be significantly lower, and estimates are going to continue to come down."

Tokyo - Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average extended losses in early trading Friday on prolonged economic concerns and the yen's strength against other currencies, with the benchmark index down 423.18 points, or 4.76 per cent, to 8,475.96.

The Nikkei lost more than 6 per cent in Thursday trading.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 97.27-32 yen, down from Thursday's 5 pm quote of 97.90-93 yen.

Paris - French shares shrugged off a substantial interest rate cut by the European Central Bank and ended Thursday's session with a big loss.

The Paris Bourse's CAC 40 index closed off by 6.38 per cent, at 3,387.25, as all 40 listed stocks lost ground.

The sell-off was led by steel giant ArcelorMittal, which lost nearly 20 per cent, to 16.75 euros, on fears that the recession will be deeper and more stubborn than expected.

Frankfurt - Stocks plunged in Germany on Thursday amid tumbling factory orders and profit-taking following a cut in interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB).

The blue chip DAX index slumped to 4,813 at the close, a drop of 6.8 per cent from the previous day.

All but one of the 30 companies listed on the index posted losses. Among the biggest losers were Deutsche Bank, down 12.8 per cent to 30.16 euros and Siemens, down 10 per cent to 40 euros.

Sporting goods manufacturer Adidas was off 9.6 per cent at 26.64 after withdrawing its forecast for 2009 because of the uncertain economic outlook.