Manila - Philippine shares dropped 3.01 per cent on Tuesday as panic engulfed stock markets around the world over the deepening global financial crisis.

The Philippine Stock Exchange's 30-share composite index shed 75.34 points to close at 2,424.19 from Monday's finish of 2,499.53 points.

A total of 1.38 billion shares valued at 2.30 billion pesos (48.26 million dollars) were traded.

Losers swamped gainers, 108 to 10, with 28 issues unchanged.

Sydney - Sellers swamped the Australian stock market at the opening bell Tuesday as investors took their turn to join in the global sell-off.

The ASX 200 lost 142 points, or 3.1 per cent, to take the index to 4,398.

It was the same story in New Zealand, where the index gave up 79 points, or 2.6 per cent, to 2,969 at the opening.

The drop in share values was mirrored in the Australian dollar's performance on the cross rates. It gave up 5 US cents in overnight trading to reach a two-year low of 72 US cents.

Tokyo - Stocks in Tokyo continued their downward c

Washington - President George W Bush on Monday warned it would take some time for the 700-billion-dollar rescue package to help free up credit availability and restore confidence in the financial system.

As stocks plunged more than 5 per cent Monday morning, Bush said the legislation he signed Friday was a "big step toward solving the problem" but recognized that small businesses and consumers were still reeling from the credit crunch.

Sao Paulo - The global financial crisis unleashed panic Monday in the stock exchange in Sao Paulo: just 18 minutes after the starting bell in the largest stock exchange in Latin America, trading was suspended after the leading index Bovespa fell over 10 per cent.

When trading resumed, stocks continued to fall in relation to the previous day's closing, and trading had to be suspended again, this time for an hour.

Amsterdam  - For the second week in a row, the main index of the Amsterdam stock exchange AEX dropped dramatically on Monday morning. By 10:42 am (0842 GMT) the index had lost
5.83 per cent and stood at 323.97 points, with some analysts speaking of a "blood bath."

There was no stock posting any gains in the morning, with Financial firms losing out most.

Leading the list of companies who saw their stock value drop was insurer Aegon (down 20.37 per cent), followed by bank and insurance company ING Group (down 10.92 per cent).

There was no trade in shares of Fortis NV. On Friday, the Dutch government nationalized the Dutch division of the former Belgian- Dutch bank and insurance giant.