World stocks sink on investor concern Greece debt bailout will fail, crisis may spread

World stocks sink on Europe debt concerns

SINGAPORE — World stocks slid Wednesday, following a plunge in U.S. equities as concerns spread that the bailout for debt-laden Greece won’t stop the crisis spreading to other European countries.

Some Asian markets pared their losses in afternoon trade while the euro, battered recently, fell further against the dollar. Oil prices fell to near $82 a barrel.

As trading got started in Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.6 percent while France’s CAC-40 dropped 1 percent and Germany’s DAX slipped 0.4 percent. Stock futures pointed to modest losses Wednesday on Wall Street.

Stock markets in the U.S. fell Tuesday as labor unions protested on the streets of Athens, rejecting spending cuts and higher taxes that would come with a $144 billion bailout package for Greece from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Investors are also worried Spain and Portugal may need even larger debt bailouts.

“It is by no means clear that Greece will be able to cope with the kind of pain implied by the austerity arithmetic it faces,” Singapore’s DBS bank said in a report. “What then? Anything is possible and nothing looks good.”

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 469.82 points, or 2.3 percent, to 20,292.23. Australia’s index skidded 1.3 percent, Indonesia slid 2.6 percent and Taiwan sank 3 percent. China’s benchmark Shanghai index, meanwhile, recovered early losses to rise 0.8 percent.

Markets in Japan, South Korea and Thailand were closed for holidays.

Asian countries, which have pared debt since the region’s economic crisis of 1997 and 1998, will likely fare better than elsewhere if Europe’s debt crisis worsens, DBS said.

The Dow on Tuesday fell 225.06, or 2 percent, to 10,926.77, its lowest close since April 7. The S&P 500 index fell 28.66, or 2.4 percent, to 1,173.60 while the Nasdaq composite index fell 74.49, or 3 percent, to 2,424.25.

In currencies, the dollar fell to 94.59 yen from 94.70 while the euro fell to $1.2945 from $1.2967.

Benchmark crude for June delivery was down 54 cents to $82.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $3.45, or 4 percent, to settle at $82.74 on Tuesday.