US stocks tumbled on Friday amid a panic-driven global market rout, on rising fears of a worldwide recession that will slam a wide range of industries.
The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 312.30 points or 3.59% to 8,378.95, in a volatile session that saw the blue-chip index down as much as 500 points.
The market action capped a week with a drop of more than 5% for the benchmark Wall Street index.
But New York escaped the meltdown some markets experienced, such as the 9.6% Tokyo plunge and losses of around 5.0% in Europe.
The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 51.88 points or 3.23% to 1,552.03. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 31.34 points or 3.45% to 876.77.
NZ market down
The benchmark NZX 50 index lost 28 points to close at 2778 on Friday on light market turnover of $48 million.
Telecom was up 5 cents at $2.31, while fellow top stocks Contact Energy was down 17 cents to $6.85.
Fletcher Building was down 20 cents to $5.80.
Fisher and Paykel Appliances was up 1 cent to $1.33 and Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was down 9 cents to $3.01.
Auckland Airport remained unchanged at $1.79.
The NZX is closed on Monday for the Labour Day holiday.
Australia
In Australia stocks slumped to the worst level in almost four years on Friday.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index lost 105 points, or 2.64%, to end 3869.4 - its worst close since November 23, 2004.
The broader All Ordinaries dropped 107.7 points, or 2.73%, to 3831.6 - its weakest close since November 2, 2004.
At the close of day trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the December share price index contract was 156 points lower at 3877, on a volume of 37,913 contracts.
BHP Billiton dropped 32 cents, or 1.3%, to $24.38 while rival Rio Tinto shed $2.85, or 4.26%, to $64.10.
The banking sector was weaker, with ANZ falling 46 cents to $17.55, National Australia Bank losing 80 cents to $24.70, Commonwealth Bank shedding 56 cents to $40.84 and Westpac dropping 82 cents to $20.66.
Market turnover was 1.18 billion, worth $3.67 billion, with 274 stocks up, 757 stocks down and 301 unchanged.
European shares down
London closed 5.0% in negative territory after having shed more than 9.0% earlier in the day.
The London FTSE 100 index finished at 3,883.36 points.
In Paris, the CAC 40 index fell 3.54% to 3,193.79.
In Frankfurt, the Dax lost 4.96% to finish at 4,519.70.
Japan down
Japan's Nikkei stock index plunged more than 9% on Friday.
The benchmark ended below the key 8,000-point level for the first time in more than five years after the yen struck a 13-year high against the dollar and a six-year peak against the euro, darkening the outlook for exporters.
The benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 811.90 points to end at 7,649.08, near a 20-year low of 7,607.88 struck on April 28, 2003.
