Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami knocked already jittery global stock markets on Friday, with Europe following Asia lower and Wall Street expected to open down.
The earthquake struck just before the close of Tokyo stock trading, sending the benchmark Nikkei 225 index tumbling 1.7pc to a 5-week low.
Other Asian stock markets reacted badly with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropping 1.8pc and South Korea's Kospi sliding 1.3pc.
Asian shares had been down earlier with higher-that-expected inflation data in China, jitters over eurozone debts after Moody's downgraded Spain, and unrest in Saudi Arabia weighing on sentiment.
In London, the FTSE 100 dropped at the open on Friday, with insurers such as Royal & Sun Alliance and Aviva down a couple of percent as investors remain risk averse.
By noon the index of leading shares had fallen 0.5pc to 5816.34. The index is now below where is started the year and is on track for its worst weekly performance in eight months.
On the Continent large reinsurers such as Swiss Re, Hannover Re and Munich Re were all down, with bourses in Germany and France sliding by around 1pc.
Wall Street, where the Dow Jones tumbled 1.87pc on Thursday, is predicted to open lower.
David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said: "At the moment we are expecting the Dow Jones to start off around 80 points lower than last night’s close. Retail sales data for February is due out this afternoon, but the overriding concerns for investors will continue to be developments in Libya and news from Japan following the earthquake."
Bernard McAlinden, investment strategist at NCB Stockbrokers, in Dublin, said: "Markets are in a correction mode. If you get natural disasters at a time when the markets are worried about something else, they can compound the worries."
The Bank of Japan vowed to ensure financial market stability and liquidity.
Market players expect the Japanese stock market to fall on Monday but said the slide may not be too deep because major cities and manufacturing facilities were not affected.
While the full extent of the quake's damage was still being assessed, analysts said the images and reports so far did not suggest a major economic and financial disaster.
The Telegraph
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