AFP
October 24, 2008
Giants of the auto, airline and technology industries ordered emergency action against the global financial crisis on Friday as shares took a new hammering amid mounting gloom.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Even a 1.5 million barrel a day production cut by OPEC failed to stop oil prices falling amid fears of a deep global recession.
Grim news backing those fears came from around the world.
China, Japan and 11 other Asian nations agreed to set up an 80-billion-dollar war chest to fight what ex-US Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan called a “once-in-a-century credit tsunami”.
French auto giants PSA Peugeot-Citroen and Renault ordered huge production cuts, while Japan’s hi-tech giant Sony Corp. and Europe’s biggest airline Air France-KLM issued profits warnings.
In Britain, official figures confirmed the country was about to enter a recession while Turkey’s central bank took action to strengthen bank liquidity and prop up the slumping currency.
The combined impact sent shares tumbling in both Asia and Europe after overnight falls in Wall Street.
Japan’s Nikkei index plunged 9.60 percent, ending below the key 8,000-point level for the first time in more than five years, and Hong Kong fell 8.3 percent.
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