Foreign Markets Off To Slow Start

Japanese shares have tumbled nearly five percent in early trade on Friday, hit by lingering fears over a global recession and Sony's dismal earnings forecast.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 413.99 points, or 4.89 percent, to close the morning session Friday at 8,046.99, bucking modest gains on Wall Street on Thursday.

The broader Topix index fell 4.35 percent in early trade Friday.

Selling of export-linked shares, such as Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp., accelerated on the back of a soaring yen against the dollar.

A strong yen cuts the value of repatriated profits by Japanese exporters.

In late morning Tokyo trade Friday, the yen stood at 96.26 to the dollar, compared with 97.62 in late New York trade Thursday.

In South Korea, the benchmark stock index fell below one-thousand points for the first time in more than three years.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 5.5 percent, or 57.87 points, to 991.84 after about two and half hours of trading.

It was the first time to drop below 1,000 since June 30, 2005, on an intra-day basis, according to the Korea Exchange.

The exchange said it was the first time the Kospi has traded below one-thousand points since 29 June 2005.

Friday's decline brought the Kospi's drop so far this year to 47.7 percent, thanks largely to strong selling by foreign investors.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose two percent to 8,691.25.

Broader stock indicators were mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose while the Nasdaq fell.