Mumbai, Sept 18 : The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today plunged below 13000 points and lost nearly 705 points in early trading on massive selling by funds, sparked by deepening global financial crisis after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The 30-share index, which had lost nearly 1,685 points in the last seven sessions, moved down by 704.76 points or 5.31 per cent to 12,558.14, the lowest since July 16 after all the sectoral indices dropped between two to eight per cent with realty, metals and capital goods suffering the most.

Bangkok - The Th

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell by more than 7 per cent in the first hour of trading Thursday in one of the city's worst financial weeks on record.

The Hang Seng Index, was down by 1,301.05 points or 7.38 per cent at 16,336.4 points at lunchtime Thursday. Turnover was a robust 48.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The sharp decline followed falls of 5.4 per cent Tuesday and another 3.63 per cent Wednesday. The market was closed for a public holiday Monday.

Beijing - China's main stock market fell by nearly 6 per cent in early trading on Thursday, following more big losses on Wall Street.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in local and foreign currencies, closed the morning session at 1,816.44, down 5.84 per cent, state media said.

Shares in banking and insurance companies led the plunge, after reports that several major Chinese banks held bonds in the bankrupt US investment firm Lehman Brothers.

Manila - Philippine stocks continued to freefall on Thursday, after a slight recovery a day earlier, with the main index plunging 4.25 per cent.

The Philippine Stock Exchange's 30-share composite index lost 104.63 points to close at 2,352.37 from Wednesday's finish of 2,457.00.

A total of 1.81 billion shares worth 2.15 billion pesos (45.74 million dollars) were traded.

Losers swamped gainers 117 to 14, with 23 issues unchanged.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong shares fell by more than 5 per cent in the first hour of trading Thursday in one of the city's worst financial weeks on record.

The Hang Seng Index, which had already lost 5.4 per cent of its value Tuesday and another 3.63 per cent Wednesday, was down by 895 points or 5.04 per cent at 11 am Thursday.

The index, shaken by the news coming out of the US since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, has now lost nearly 3,000 points since the beginning of the week. Monday was a public holiday in Hong Kong.