Sydney - Australian shares ga

Washington - In a country that prides itself on free-market principles, US taxpayer dollars are are already on the hook for more than 300 billion dollars in financial industry bailouts, and, by some accounts, the government is just getting started.

The Federal Reserve's unprecedented, 85-billion-dollar loan and effective takeover of the largest US insurer, American International Group Inc, was only the latest in a string of emergency interventions this year on Wall Street.

New York  - US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday amid fears that more major bank failures could be around the corner, despite the government rescue of struggling insurance giant American International Group Inc (AIG).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 449.36 points, or 4.06 per cent, to 10,609.66. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 57.20 points, or 4.71 per cent, to 1,156.39.

Paris - After opening sharply higher in the wake of the US Federal Reserve's bail-out of insurance giant AIG, French shares were pulled into the red on Wednesday by a weak Wall Street, ending the session at a low for the year.

The Paris Bourse's benchmark CAC 40 closed off by 2.14 per cent, at 4.000.11, with losers outnumbering winners by 13 to 1.

The losers were led by troubled Franco-American telecoms equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent, which slumped by 8.51 per cent, to 3.15 euros, and steel producer Arcelor-Mittal, which lost 7.96 per cent, to 39.67 euros.

Buoyed by the AIG rescue, insurance giant Axa was one of the session's bright lights, gaining 0.30 per cent, to 19.82 euros.

Mumbai, Sept 17 : While Indian bankers do not see much impact from the exposure to Lehman brothers, market analysts do not rule out immediate repercussions of the fallout on the Indian stocks.

It is official now that the sub prime crisis is no longer confined to either the US market or just the mortgage market, but the reverberations are being felt world over and across all financial services.

A failed investment banking firm- Lehman brothers is for sure spelling troubles for the Indian companies that have invested in the company.

Frankfurt - European stock markets remained jittery on Wednesday after the US central bank's bailout of insurance giant American International Group (AIG) failed to impress investors.

After opening sharply higher in the wake of the Federal Reserve's 85-billion-dollar rescue action, French shares dipped into the red following Wall Street's weak opening.

At mid-afternoon the Paris Bourse's benchmark CAC 40 had fallen by 0.05 per cent, to 4,085.53. Insurance giant Axa still led the winners, up by 2.66 per cent to 20.29 euros, while banking shares were managing to stay in the black.

Societe Generale was up by 0.63 per cent, to 56.32 euros, and Credit Agricole, France's largest retail banking group, had gained 0.12 per cent, to 12.09 euros.