PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA - Panicked investors across Asia and Europe scrambled to exit equities, sending stock markets falling for the seventh consecutive day yesterday as fears of a global recession heightened.

It was a week that most investors would want to forget as Asian bourses recorded massive losses. More than US$6 trillion was wiped out of global equities this week.

In South-East Asia, regional markets notched losses up to 9.61%. The Indonesian Stock Exchange remained closed since Wednesday on fears of a sell-down while Thailand halted trading for 30 minutes after the Stock Exchange of Thailand Index opened down 8.2% and ended the day down 9.61%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 9.6% down and over the seven days of heavy selling saw the benchmark index losing 24% during the period and 46% since January. The selling was also aggravated by Japan's 98-year-old insurance company, Yamato Life Insurance Co, becoming the first to file for bankruptcy.

This set off a panic among investors that the Japanese financial sector could face the same fate as its peers in the US and Europe.

Singapore's Straits Times Index tumbled 7.34% as investors' sentiment was further battered after the government announced the country was in recession.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index skidded 7.19% but Malaysia's 100-stock Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell the least, closing the day 3.6% lower.

Austr alia's S&P/ASX 20 0 tumble d 8.3 4%, it s sharpes t fall in a da y since the 1987 market crash. The contagion effect swept through Europe, with the major indices recording losses of between 5.3% and 8.6%.

US stocks slumped at the open yesterday with the benchmark S&P 500 falling below the 900 mark, as fears that tighter credit may send the global economy into recession slashed the appetite for risk.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 401.27 points, or 4.68% to 8,177.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 6.43% or 58.48 points, at 851.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 69.09 points, or 4.2% at 1,576.03.

Russian and Austrian stock markets delayed the opening of trading yesterday while Iceland's stock market was suspended until Monday after the country's biggest bank, Kaupthing Bank hf was taken over by the government.

Frenzied selling continued as investors refused to be convinced by the assurances and measures taken so far by the US Government and major central banks including the US Treasury's US$700bil bailout fund, capital injection into troubled banks and interest rate cuts.

The recent easing of monetary policy led by the US, Britain, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and China was intended to free capital and avoid a credit crunch but overnight inter-bank rates and longer-term funding costs continued to hover at high levels.

The currency market also came under pressure, with the Indian rupee falling 4.4% against the US dollar. Panic selling in shares saw the Australian dollar tumble more than 4.5% against the US greenback.

Oil fell in line with the weak equities market, sliding US$6.96 to a one-year low of US$79.65 per barrel at 10pm Malaysian time. Gold rose US$23 to US$909.5 per ounce as it was the only safe haven.