Dubai: Stock markets across the UAE fell sharply on Tuesday morning following heavy losses on Wall Street and growing fears over the state of the global economy.
European shares followed the volatility seen in Asian markets and fell further at the open. London's FTSE 100 share index and Frankfurt's Dax index both rose at first before falling back sharply. Markets were also down in France, Italy and Spain.
The losses come after panic selling on Wall Street saw the Standard & Poor's 500 index drop more than six per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 634.76 points, or 5.55 per cent, to end at 10,809.85 as a global stock market sell-off wiped out more than $1.35 trillion (Dh4.9 trillion) in investor wealth worldwide, according to the 5.2 per cent drop in the MSCI World Index.
Some 17.89 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq on Monday, the heaviest volume since the "flash crash" of May 6, 2010.
Asian stocks also extended losses on Tuesday morning, as investors scrambled to readjust their positions in the aftermath of the United States' credit downgrade and deepening worries over the Eurozone's sovereign debt crisis spreading to financial heavyweights Spain and Italy.
Tokyo's Nikkei closed down 1.7 per cent, having been down more than four per cent at one stage, and MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.9 percent, after tumbling more than six per cent earlier.
