Manila - Philippine shares

Tokyo - Markets across Asia plummeted on opening Thursday, dragged down by US retail sales data and concerns about whether bank bail-outs would be able to rescue financial markets and avert a recession.

The Tokyo stock market plummeted in early trading after Wall Street's blue-chip Dow Jones industrials lost nearly 8 per cent overnight amid growing recession fears in the United States and worldwide.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 911.91 points, or 9.55 per cent, to 8,635.56.

Taipei - Taiwan stocks dropped more than 3 per cent in morning trading Thursday, dampened by overnight drops on Wall Street and the death of Wang Yung-ching, founder of Taiwan's petrochemical giant Formosa Group, dealers said.

The Taiex index had fallen 164.5 points, or 3.14 per cent to 5,081.69 two and a half hours after the stock market opened.

Stocks of all six listed companies of the Formosa Group fell sharply on the death of the group's founder, dubbed the "god of management" and the second wealthiest man in Taiwan.

Sydney - Investors fled Aus

World leaders wrestled anew Wednesday with recession fears as stock values cascaded, defying hopes of US and European governments that their escalating interventions into the finance system, mostly recently the purchase of bank shares, would stabilize the markets.

A US central bank official, Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve, said that the US economy "appears to be in a recession," based on data and the consensus among top analysts.

US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke warned that the emergency actions of the last month were unlikely to produce a swift economic turnaround, even if markets stabilize.