Asia hammered by stocks sell-off

8 August 2011 Last updated at 20:07 ET

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Asian markets have been hammered amid fears that the US is heading for a recession and Wall Street posted the biggest losses since October 2008.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 2%, South Korea’s Kospi lost 3.5%, and Australia’s ASX shed 0.9%.

Earlier in the US, the Dow Jones stock index dropped 5.6%, despite US President Barack Obama trying to reassure investors.

A US recession would hurt Asia’s export-led economies.

“ can’t control it,” Peter Esho, chief market analyst at City Index, told the BBC.

“ have the onset of fear in the market. There are a lot of things that don’t make sense.”

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