HONG KONG : Asian shares plunged again Tuesday as the threat of a US recession led panicky investors to dump stocks, sending a clutch of markets down more than seven percent and Tokyo to a 28-month low.

Every market in the region was in virtual free-fall during the day.

Trading was briefly suspended in South Korea and India, while jittery investors elsewhere watched markets open sharply in the red - and then keep plummeting.

Hong Kong suffered the worst slide among Asia's biggest markets, slumping nearly nine percent.

China and Australia both tumbled more than seven percent.

Taiwan ended down 6.51 percent while Tokyo, the region's biggest stock market, slid 5.65 percent to below the 13,000 points level for the first time since September 2005.

Investors in Asia fear the US, a key buyer of Asian goods, could be heading for a recession after a major financial crisis.

Wall Street was shut for a holiday Monday but onlookers were braced for falls when it reopened Tuesday.

The losses in Asia came just a day after Europe's key stock exchanges suffered their biggest one-day drops since the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Japanese share prices tumbled 5.65 percent to a 28-month low amid a global selloff on fears a US recession will hit the rest of the world.

The mood on Asia's largest bourse was also soured by a spike in the yen, which makes Japanese exports less competitive.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index ended down 752.89 points at 12,573.05, closing below the symbolic 13,000-point level for the first time since September 2005.

Hong Kong share prices closed down 8.7 percent, their biggest ever one-day fall ever.

The Hang Seng index closed down 2,061.23 points at 21,757.63.

Australian share prices closed down 7.1 percent.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 393.6 points at 5,186.8, its lowest level since October 2006, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 408.9 points to 5,222.

Chinese share prices closed down 7.22 percent.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index, which covers both A and B shares, closed down 354.68 points to 4,559.75.

Taiwan share prices closed down 6.51 percent.

The weighted index closed down 528.24 points at 7,581.96.

South Korean shares closed down 4.4 percent.

The KOSPI index ended 74.54 points lower at 1,609.02.

Malaysian share prices closed down 3.8 percent.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite index fell 54.12 points to 1,354.48.

Thai share prices closed 3.26 percent lower.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index fell 24.99 points to 741.54 and the blue-chip SET-50 lost 19.40 points to 531.45.

Indonesian share prices closed down 7.7 percent.

The Jakarta composite index closed down 191.36 points at 2,294.52.

Philippine share prices closed down 5.5 percent.

The composite index fell 173.89 points to 2,978.41.

The all-share index fell 96.93 points to 1,855.39.

New Zealand share prices closed down 1.09 percent.

The benchmark NZX-50 index fell 39.77 points to a 15-month low of 3,607.13.

Indian share prices closed down 4.97 percent.

They said the market recovered from a record intra-day fall of nearly 13 percent, which triggered a one-hour halt in early trade.

The benchmark 30-share Sensex index closed down 875.41 points at 16,729.94, its seventh straight day of losses. - AFP/ms