We cover the unfolding world financial crisis throughout the day. Keep updating this page for latest news.
KEY POINTS:
16.21- HONG KONG: The blue-chip Hang Seng index has fallen more than 7 per cent today, falling 1350 points to 16287. The index last traded at that level in July 2006.
16.13-SHANGHAI: China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has fallen 5.8 percent to its lowest level in nearly 2 years.
16.09- SYDNEY: Shares in Australia's major banks and insurers have been pounded as investors flee risky assets.
This afternoon, the major lenders had dropped over three percent, with National Australia Bank (NAB) falling to its lowest level in almost 12 years, down $1.62 ($NZ1.96) or 7.83 percent at $19.08.
Australia's largest investment bank, Macquarie Group, fell 17.42 percent or $5.91 to $28.02 after global ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the bank's outlook from stable to negative.
15.37- HONG KONG: Banking stocks across Asia have gone into a tailspin today.
Japan's three megabanks fell hard: Mizuho Financial Group has sank 7.2 per cent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group shed 4.6 per cent, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group retreated 7.4 per cent.
Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia's biggest investment bank and securities firm, lost 16 per cent.
Leading China lender Industrial & Commercial Bank of China or ICBC, fell over 5 per cent in Hong Kong.
15.30- SYDNEY: The Reserve Bank of Australia has pumped $3.015 billion ($NZ3.66bn) into the banking system today to ease liquidity contraints in the money market. The injection was conducted through repurchase agreements with banks during the RBA's open market operations.
14.56- $1.3 billion has now been wiped off the value of the NXSX-50 today. The total capitalisation of the index has fallen from $38.3 billion yesterday to $37bn this afternoon.
14.37-HONG KONG: Hong Kong's key stock index has dropped 3.4 per cent. The benchmark Hang Seng Index was off 607.77 points to 17,029.42 in the first 10 minutes of trading.
14.24- Australian share prices are continuing to fall, with both the S&P/ASX200 and the broader All-ordinaries now 3.4 per cent down.
14.03- In the UK, HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland), the country's biggest mortgage lender, has been bought out by Lloyds TSB following the collapse of its share price.
13.48- One senior banker in London told The Times there was no future left for the traditional investment bank. "The world is on the brink. The market is puking all over us. There's no capital left in the world," he said.
13.42- Former National leader and Reserve Bank governor Don Brash says the state of the Government's books leaves New Zealand in a better state than many countries to get through the coming months.
Brash says the banking system is also strong as it is well capitalised and does not have the exposure to sub-prime mortgages that US institutions did. The Government's fiscal position is also good and its debt was low, he says.
13.36- Acting as a safe haven, the price of gold posted its biggest single-day gain in more than three decades, rising US$70 an ounce. Silver had its biggest jump since the late 1970s, the New York Times said.
13.29- The Wall Street Journal says: "The financial crisis that began 13 months ago has entered a new, far more serious phase."
13.19- The Nikkei share average in Japan fell 2.6 percent to a three-year low by mid-morning local time, Reuters reported.
13.16- The US dollar fell against the euro and the yen today as losses in US investment banking stocks and doubts over the bailout of insurer American International Group fuelled fears over the stability of the financial sector.
The dollar was flat from late New York trade against the yen at 104.67 yen after dropping as low as 104.13 yen on trading platform EBS earlier in the session, in sight of a four-month low of 103.54 yen hit on Tuesday.
The euro gained 0.3 per cent to $1.4365 edging towards Wednesday's high of $1.4384 on EBS. The euro also rose 0.4 per cent to 150.40 yen.
12.52- The Australian stock market opened over three per cent lower. At 10.16 AEST (12.16pm NZT), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 163.8 points, or 3.47 per cent to 4,558.4, while the broader All Ordinaries dropped 160.2 points, or 3.36 per cent to 4,609.5.
"We've been waiting for this market to capitulate," James McGlew, senior dealer at Argonaut Securities told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Until the news overnight, there had been a degree of denial."
12.45- The plunge continues on the NZX. The NZSX-50 has now fallen 3.3 per cent, down 105 points at 3164
12.38-JAPAN: The Bank of Japan says it has injected 1.5 trillion yen ($NZ22.18 billion) into money markets as financial markets saw more turbulence. It is the third consecutive day the Japanese central bank has made an emergency offer of funds.
12.28-KOREA: South Korea's benchmark stock index has fallen 3.2 per cent in early trading. sharply after another plunge in U.S. shares.
The index's performance has largely mirrored that of U.S. stocks this week, with the Seoul market plunging 6.1 percent Tuesday and rising 2.7 per cent on Wednesday.
12.15-JAPAN:The Nikkei share average has fallen 1.5 percent in early trading.
11.55-The NZX continues its morning plunge. The benchmark NZSX-50 is now down more than 3 per cent. It has fallen 95 points today to 3174. Telecom shares have fallen 10 cents to $2.71 each. Fletcher Building shares are down 25 cents to $7.02, while Contact Energy is down 26 cents to $8.50.
11.45- Australian dollar opens lower on Wall St nosedive. The Reserve Bank of Australia's trade weighted index (TWI) was at 62.4, down from yesterday's close of 63.4.
This was the lowest TWI since it closed at 62.3 on October 6, 2006.
10.45- New Zealand shares are down 2.6 per cent in early trading, following a plunge in United States stocks to a three-year low.
Around 10.20am, the benchmark NZSX-50 index was down 85.03 points to 3184.9.
Telecom continued its sorry decline, down a further 11c early to 270 - its lowest level since late-1992.
10.15- NZX opens sharply down, with the benchmark NZSX-50 falling 2 per cent in the first few minutes of trading.
10.00- NEW YORK: Gold prices soared Wednesday, notching the biggest one-day advance ever as mounting credit market turmoil prodded jittery investors to pull money out of equities and into safe-haven assets.
Gold for December delivery rose as much as $US90.40, or 11.6 percent, to $US870.90 an ounce in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after jumping $US70 to settle at $US850.50 in the regular session. That was the biggest one-day price jump ever; gold's previous single-day record was a $64 gain on Jan. 29, 1980. In percentage terms, it was gold's largest one-day advance since 1999.
09.00- NEW YORK: Stock plunge more than 400 points, with the Dow falling more than 4 per cent. After a nosedive Monday, the index is down more than 7 per cent for the week, and has fallen more than 25 per cent since reaching a record close on Oct 9 last year.
A 500-point drop on Monday marked the largest in the Dow Jones industrials since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as the venerable Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers filed for the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
-AP, NZPA, AAP
