Sydney - More than 2 per cent was wiped off the value of Australian shares Thursday in response to a 4-per-cent fall on Wall Street.

The ASX 200 gave up 115 points, or 2.4 per cent, to close at 4,607.

A fourth day of losses was stemmed by bargain-hunting near the close that dragged the market up from an intraday low of 4,563.

Stocks are now languishing at a three-year low with finance sector counters the worst affected.

New Delhi - India equities fell sharply for the third day on Thursday as the benchmark Sensex shed 5.3 per cent in early trade tracking the deepening global financial crisis after the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The 30-share-sensitive index, which has lost 1,685 points in the last seven trading sessions, plunged 704.76 points to fall to below 13,000 soon after opening.

The index touched a low of 12,558.14 points, a loss of 5.31 per cent, on heavy selling by funds and investors. It later recovered and was trading at 12,790.10 points, a loss of 

After opening with a loss of 550.08 points at 12,712.82, the 30-share index, BSE Sensex continued its downward trend in today’s session (Sep 18).

At 11:06 a.m., Sensex lost 578.71 points at 12,684.19, after hitting a high of 12,712.82 and a low of 12,558.14.

On the other hand, the broad based Nifty stood at 3,853.05, down 151.20 points, after touching a high of 4,005.25 and a low of 3,799.55.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap were trading down 4.81% and 5.01% respectively.

Mumbai, Sept 18 : The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today plunged below 13000 points and lost nearly 705 points in early trading on massive selling by funds, sparked by deepening global financial crisis after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The 30-share index, which had lost nearly 1,685 points in the last seven sessions, moved down by 704.76 points or 5.31 per cent to 12,558.14, the lowest since July 16 after all the sectoral indices dropped between two to eight per cent with realty, metals and capital goods suffering the most.

Bangkok - The Th

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell by more than 7 per cent in the first hour of trading Thursday in one of the city's worst financial weeks on record.

The Hang Seng Index, was down by 1,301.05 points or 7.38 per cent at 16,336.4 points at lunchtime Thursday. Turnover was a robust 48.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The sharp decline followed falls of 5.4 per cent Tuesday and another 3.63 per cent Wednesday. The market was closed for a public holiday Monday.