• Asian markets plunge on back of euro fears and US losses
• World stock markets tumble sharply again, with the FTSE falling 191 points
• Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 512 points in biggest one-day fall since late 2008
• Oil and gold both decline, as investors race for US Treasuries
Graeme Wearden and David Batty guardian.co.uk, Thursday 4 August 2011 17.53 BST
4.13am: With falls in Indonesia and South Korea adding to the turmoil on global markets, here is the latest AP round-up:
Asian stock markets tumbled Friday as investors dumped riskier assets amid fears the US is heading back into recession and Europe's debt crisis is worsening.
The sell-off in Asia followed the biggest one-day points decline on Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average slid 3.4% to 9,335.26 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 4.1% to 20,989.28.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was off 4% at 4,107.20, Taiwan's Taiex sank 4.2% to 7,967.38 and Seoul's Kospi dropped 2.8% to 1,961.79.
Growing fear about the weakening US economy was joined by concern in Europe that the troubled economies of Italy and Spain might need help from the European Union. But some analysts said the sell-off was not a repeat of 2008 when a banking and credit crisis sent markets into a prolonged tailspin.
Traders also unloaded stocks before Friday's release of the US government's unemployment report for July, which is expected to show weak job growth and perhaps a rise in the unemployment rate, which is 9.2%.