Asian Stocks Plunge, Set for Worst Week Since 1987; Banks, Neptune Slump

Asian stocks tumbled, driving Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average down as much 11 percent, and U.S. futures fell on concern the deepening credit crisis will push the global economy into recession.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. fell 9.6 percent after Japanese bank lending growth slowed. Neptune Orient Lines Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest container shipping company, plunged 11 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. slashed its target price. BHP Billiton Ltd. lost 7.2 percent after crude oil declined to the lowest level in a year.
``It's a financial panic,'' said Choi Min Jai, who oversees the equivalent of $2.1 billion at KTB Asset Management Co. in Seoul. ``The recession can only get worse. You can't find the link that will break the vicious cycle.''
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 4.9 percent to 87.86 as of 10:33 a.m. in Tokyo. The measure is poised to drop 16 percent this week, the biggest slump since the index was created on Dec. 31, 1987. Only four stocks gained in the 990 member gauge. S&P 500 index futures lost 2 percent.
All Asian benchmark indexes dropped. Japan's Nikkei plunged 9.8 percent to 8,264.65. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index tumbled 5.7 percent. Today's slump left the Nikkei valued at 9.9 times earnings and the S&P/ASX 200 at 11 times profit, the lowest for both indexes since at least April 2000, when Bloomberg started keeping track of the data.
Indonesia's stock exchange is set to resume trading today after a two-day halt. Taiwan is shut for a holiday.
MSCI's Asian index is down 42 percent this year as mounting mortgage-related losses at financial firms caused credit to dry up, toppling banks including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and slowing global demand for Asia's exports.
U.S. stocks tumbled yesterday, wiping out almost $900 billion in market value, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing below 9,000 for the first time since 2003. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 7.6 percent to 909.92, capping a seven-day decline, the longest losing streak since 1996.