March 02, 2009

Stock markets in Asia and Europe were reeling Monday amid fresh concerns over the strength of the global banking industry as HSBC announced a huge slump in profits and the U.S. government said it would pump $30 billion into ailing insurance giant AIG.London's FTSE dropped more than 3 percent in early trading to drop below 3,700 points -- a six-year low -- with banking stocks leading the slide.

HSBC was down more than 10 percent after revealing a 62 percent slump in profits to $9.3 billion and plans to bolster its capital base through a $17.7 billion shares issue.Frankfurt's DAX and Paris' CAC were also down around 3 percent in morning trading. In Asia, Japan's influential Nikkei average finished down 3.8 percent, while Australia's All Ordinaries index closed down 2.8 percent. In Seoul, the KOSPI lost 4.2 percent and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dipped 3.8 percent.