Asian stock
markets slumped to fresh four-year lows on Wednesday as a relentless
slide in oil prices snuffed out an attempted rally on Wall Street and
dealt a further blow to global investors' appetite for riskier assets.
European stocks were expected to fall sharply at the open on Wednesday with financial spreadbetters predicting Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open down 2 percent, Germany's DAX .DAXI to fall 2.4 percent and France's CAC .FCHI to slip 2.2-2.4 percent.
U.S. crude wallowed at its lowest since 2003 after the world's energy watchdog warned the market could "drown in oversupply". U.S. futures CLc1 shed nearly 3 percent to $27.68 while Brent crude LCOc1 lost 2 percent to $28.21 a barrel.
In Asia, stocks surrendered all of Tuesday's rare gains with the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS falling 2.6 percent on the day and hitting its lowest since October 2011.
Leading regional stocks lower was the Hong Kong stock market .HSI with the benchmark index falling 3.7 percent on the day, its single biggest daily fall since early August, with all of its 50 constituents in the red.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 closed down 3.7 percent, leaving it 20 percent below last year's peak, meeting the technical definition of a bear market. The pain was felt widely with Australian stocks down 1.3 percent and South Korea .KS11 off 2.3 percent.
Chinese markets fared only marginally better than regional counterparts amid mounting talk that more stimulus may be on the way, possibly before the Lunar New Year holidays in early February.
December factory output, investment and retail sales data released on Tuesday were all weaker than expected.
The CSI300 index .CSI300 fell 1.3 percent, after rallying more than 3 percent on Tuesday. The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC eased 0.9 percent.
The government-backed China Securities Journal reported that Beijing had the policy space for further easing to support the economy, including raising deficit spending to around 3 percent of annual economic output.
China's central bank late Tuesday revealed it would inject more than 600 billion yuan ($91.22 billion) into the banking system to help ease a liquidity squeeze expected before the long Lunar New Year celebrations.
European stocks were expected to fall sharply at the open on Wednesday with financial spreadbetters predicting Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open down 2 percent, Germany's DAX .DAXI to fall 2.4 percent and France's CAC .FCHI to slip 2.2-2.4 percent.
U.S. crude wallowed at its lowest since 2003 after the world's energy watchdog warned the market could "drown in oversupply". U.S. futures CLc1 shed nearly 3 percent to $27.68 while Brent crude LCOc1 lost 2 percent to $28.21 a barrel.
In Asia, stocks surrendered all of Tuesday's rare gains with the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS falling 2.6 percent on the day and hitting its lowest since October 2011.
Leading regional stocks lower was the Hong Kong stock market .HSI with the benchmark index falling 3.7 percent on the day, its single biggest daily fall since early August, with all of its 50 constituents in the red.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 closed down 3.7 percent, leaving it 20 percent below last year's peak, meeting the technical definition of a bear market. The pain was felt widely with Australian stocks down 1.3 percent and South Korea .KS11 off 2.3 percent.
Chinese markets fared only marginally better than regional counterparts amid mounting talk that more stimulus may be on the way, possibly before the Lunar New Year holidays in early February.
December factory output, investment and retail sales data released on Tuesday were all weaker than expected.
The CSI300 index .CSI300 fell 1.3 percent, after rallying more than 3 percent on Tuesday. The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC eased 0.9 percent.
The government-backed China Securities Journal reported that Beijing had the policy space for further easing to support the economy, including raising deficit spending to around 3 percent of annual economic output.
China's central bank late Tuesday revealed it would inject more than 600 billion yuan ($91.22 billion) into the banking system to help ease a liquidity squeeze expected before the long Lunar New Year celebrations.
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