Asian Stocks Take a Dive

Share prices plummeted throughout Asia  today in response to the yesterday's sell-off on Wall Street and the escalating crisis in the US housing market. After the 300-point plunge in the U.S., the Tokyo Market closed at a three-month-low, and markets in Seoul, Hong Kong, and Sydney also took serious hits. The market in Shanghai escaped relatively unscathed, buoyed by strong corporate earnings.

Tokyo trouble's were compounded by a strengthening yen—weakening exports—and political uncertainty leading up to elections. The dollar leveled off in Tokyo by the close of the market, however, slowing the free-fall. Still, market mavens are nervous. "We are not out of the woods yet," says the director of Merrill Lynch in Mumbai. (More housing market stories.)