Asian stocks sink after record Wall Street plunge amid fears over Greek debt crisis

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Asian stocks sink after record Wall Street plunge

TOKYO — Asian stocks sank Friday after a record nosedive on Wall Street that was possibly caused by a simple typographical error, while fears that Greece’s debt crisis could spread to other European nations continued to rattle investors.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 326.76 points, or 3.1 percent, to 10,368.93 and South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 2.2 percent to 1,648.53. Australia’s benchmark was off 0.7 percent after earlier falling more than 2 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng retreated 0.8 percent to 19,976.75.

Elsewhere, Indonesia’s index retreated 1.7 percent, Singapore lost 1 percent and New Zealand’s stock gauge slid 2.6 percent.

The sell-off in Asia came after the Dow Jones industrials plunged 1,000 points at one point Thursday — the biggest drop ever during a trading day — amid fears that Greece’s debt problems could spread and undermine the global economic recovery.

Apart from contagion jitters, a simple typographical error may also have contributed to the massive U.S. sell-off, and the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was reviewing what happened. The Dow later recovered some of its earlier losses, closing at 10,520.32, down 3.2 percent.

“Investors are worried that the Greek debt problem could spread to other European countries, like Spain and Portugal,” said Masatoshi Sato, market analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. Ltd. “They are not so sure that the European Union alone can contain the spreading financial crisis,” he said.

With the Greek crisis hammering global financial markets, the Bank of Japan said Friday it will offer two trillion yen ($22 billion) in short-term loans to commercial banks to boost liquidity.

“We would like to ensure stability in financial markets by providing ample funds to banks,” Bank of Japan official Yuichi Adachi said. He declined to elaborate.

Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters he was “very concerned about the Greek problem” and Finance Minister Naoto Kan said Group of Seven finance ministers will hold a teleconference later in the day to discuss the Greek debt crisis.

Oil prices hovered above $77 a barrel in Asia, halting an 11 percent sell-off this week as the euro strengthened against the dollar. The benchmark contract for June was up 34 cents at $77.45 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 92.60 yen in Tokyo from 90.53 yen in New York late Thursday. The dollar plunged to 87.95 yen in New York at one point Thursday. The euro rose to $1.2688 from $1.2631.