Global stocks slump on debt turmoil

World markets were awash in red,with stocks sliding as much as 3% as investor got rattled.

World markets were awash in red today,with stocks sliding as much as 3 per cent as investor sentiment was rattled by growing fears that European debt turmoil could spread into Italy and Spain.

Concerns over eurozone debt crisis coupled with overall economic growth fears left stock markets from Tokyo to London deep in the red.

Most of the Asian bourses,led by Hong Kong,closed in the negative territory,while European markets tumbled as much as 2 per cent in afternoon trade.

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While efforts are continuing to tackle Greek debt crisis,the financial situation looks grim even for European economic heavyweights — Italy and Spain.

Investors worldwide are worried that Italy and Spain might have to seek financial lifelines from European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped over three per cent to close at 21,663.20 points while South Korea’s Kospi index plunged 2.20 per cent to 2,109.73 points.

Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 1.43 per cent to 9,925.92 points. Similarly,key indices in China,India,Singapore and Australia plummeted over 1 per cent.

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Apart from weak global sentiment,poor industrial production numbers and disappointing quarterly performance of IT major Infosys,pushed Indian investors into a sell off. The 30-share Sensex shed 1.65 per cent to end at 18,411.60 points.

On a shaky ground,European markets were in negative area in afternoon trade. London Stock Exchange’s benchmark FTSE 100 tumbled 1.49 per cent to 5,840.67 points,while Germany’s Dax index slid nearly 2 per cent to 7,088.14 points.

France’s key CAC 40 index was down 2.36 per cent at 3,717.70 points in the afternoon trade.

On Monday,all the three major American stock indices Dow Jones Industrial Average,S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite had closed in the negative territory.