World stock markets slide

LONDON (AFP) - European and Asian stock markets slumped Friday after sharp losses on Wall Street overnight and as Britain officially joined a growing list of rich nations in recession.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares was down 1.40 percent, Frankfurt's DAX 30 showed a loss of 2.15 percent and in Paris the CAC 40 had shed 2.01 percent.
"The FTSE continued to struggle after GDP figures proved we are now in a technical recession. This is no secret and had been predicted for some time," said City Index market strategist Joshua Raymond.
"What was important is that GDP figures showed a bigger contraction than anticipated and this was enough to bring in the sellers on mass pushing the FTSE index through the 4,000 (points) level."
In Asian trade on Friday, Japanese share prices tumbled 3.81 percent, hit by overnight losses on Wall Street and Sony's forecast of a record loss, dealers said.
Sydney meanwhile shed 4.1 percent following weak US leads and news the nation's three main export economies were softening. Hong Kong closed down 0.6 percent, Seoul gave up 2.1 percent and Shanghai slid 0.71 percent.
"The short-term outlook for (Australian) shares remains highly uncertain," said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital Investors.
"The difficult global economic and profit outlook mean that falls to new lows are a high risk."
US stocks had tumbled Thursday on investor concerns over increasing unemployment and the housing market slump as well as company earnings' pessimism, traders said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.28 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 2.76 percent and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 1.52 percent.
US markets were gripped by renewed caution after jobless claims jumped and housing starts and building permits plunged, "reinforcing the view that the economy remains mired in a steep recession," said analysts at Charles Schwab & Company.
Negative market sentiment Thursday also stemmed from the technology sector, where bellwether Microsoft underscored sector concerns by posting disappointing quarterly earnings and revenue results.