Stocks in turmoil on Wall St gyrations

US and European share prices have suffered heavy losses as fear stalked trading floors and frazzled investors looked to a meeting of G7 finance chiefs for salvation. Stock exchanges were in turmoil after Wall Street opened sharply lower before limping into positive territory, only to plunge again on comments from US President George W Bush. European shares closely tracked the New York Stock Exchange, going into a frenzied free fall after the start of trade on Wall Street, briefly pulling back and then plummeting. Asian shares earlier in the day were likewise hammered, with Tokyo giving up more than 9.0 per cent and Hong Kong 7.2 per cent. In New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4.23 per cent at 8,216 points at midday while the Nasdaq exchange had lost 3.65 per cent to reach 1,585.02. The Dow had been clawing... [read full story]