Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares slipped 2.4 per cent Wednesday with losses in property company and China banking stocks helping to drag the Hang Seng Index below 20,000.

The index lost 491.33 points to finish the day at 19,999.78, pulling it back to the sub-20,000 level, which it ended last week on for the first time in 17 months.

The combined losses of Tuesday and Wednesday all but wiped out Monday's rebound of more than 4 per cent prompted by the US mortgage bailout.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex continued to trade weak on account of sustained selling action seen in the metal stocks followed by oil & gas, power and banking stocks.

Midcap index fell 0.27%, whereas Smallcap surged 0.07%.

Today, the BSE Sensex opened after losing 183.23 points at 14,717.53.

At 12:54 p.m., the 30-share index Sensex stood at 14,803.53, down 97.23 points, after hitting a high of 14,866.32 and a low of 14,714.52.

Taking signs from weak Asian markets, the BSE Sensex opened with a negative gap of around 100 points at 14,852.20 on Tuesday (Sep 09).

The BSE, which plunged to 14,714.92 during the day, marked its closure at 14,900.76 after losing 44.21 points. It also touched an intra-day high of 14,998.32.

The Nifty, which touched an intra-day high of 4497.50 and an intra-day low of 4418.95, ended the day at 4468.70, down 13.60 points.

Tokyo - Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average hit a six-month low Wednesday after renewed anxiety over the US financial sector dragged down US shares.

The Nikkei fell in morning trading by 131.11 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 12,269.54. The index ended the previous day's session down 223.81 points.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 7.41 points, or 0.62 per cent, at 1,184.18 after it finished the previous day's trading down 24.82 points.

New York - US markets fell Tuesday pushed down by financial and energy stocks on concerns about capital at investment bank Lehman Brothers Holding Inc and falling oil prices.

Lehman reached a near 10-year low after talks to sell a stake to Korea Development Bank collapsed.

An index of energy shares fell 6.4 per cent as oil shares fell to 103.26 dollars a barrel as Saudi Arabia said supplies would meet demand, Bloomberg financial news reported.