Amman - Arab stock markets plummeted on Wednesday after two days of strong gains, apparently in response to declines at the Wall Street and Asian markets and fears that a world recession has already ushered in, financial analysts said.

The only exception was the Saudi stock exchange, which closed slightly in the green after violent fluctuations.

New York  - US stocks continued their decline at opening bell Wednesday, hit by the largest drop of retail sales in three years and growing worry over a US recession.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Janet Yellen, said late Tuesday that the US is already in a recession and that the job of the central bank is to "mitigate the dark scenario on the downside risk."

London - The London stock market retreated Wednesday after tw

Mumbai, Oct 15 : Equities plunged on Wednesday as sentiments turned bearish after global markets declined on recessionary concerns.

All the sectoral indices closed in the red led by losses in capital goods and metals stocks.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 10,809.12, down 674.28 points. It touched an intra-day low of 10,760.33 and a high of 11,257.15.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 3338.40, down 5.12 per cent or 180.25 points. The broader index touched a low of 3,324.55 and a high of 3,518.50.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell by almost 5 per cent Wednesday as a rebound triggered by optimism over the global bank bail-outs began to fizzle out.

The Hang Seng Index lost 834.58 points, or 4.96 per cent, to end the day back below the 16,000 barrier at 15,998.3. Turnover was 52 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.7 billion US dollars).

The heavy losses ended two consecutive days of gains on the blue-chip index which rallied by 3 per cent Tuesday and more than 10 per cent Monday.

Analysts warned ahead of Wednesday's losses that the apparently bright start to the week amounted to a technical rebound only and that a prolonged rally was unlikely.

Amsterdam - The negative mood on the Amsterdam stock exchange persisted on Wednesday. By 13:30 pm (1130 GMT) the main index AEX stood at 273.97 points (down 3.70 per cent).