Tokyo - Asia-Pacific stocks took dives Thursday amid bearish sentiment triggered by Wall Street's sharp overnight losses as well as a dismal global and regional economic outlook.

The market in the region's largest economy, Japan, also dipped as a stronger yen dimmed sales prospects among the country's export-oriented manufacturers.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 2.46 per cent to close at 8,460.98. The benchmark index recovered significant ground after losing more than 7 per cent in morning trading and hitting a five-year low.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also fell 1.97 per cent to 871.7.

Mumbai, Oct 23 : The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell to its lowest since June 2006 on Thursday as a global rout of equities raised worries of further foreign investor selling, before some bargain hunting helped the market regain some composure.

Leading private sector firm the Reliance Industries, which reports quarterly results after market hours, was down 3.9 percent at 1,264.70, having earlier fallen as much as 6.4 percent to its lowest since Dec. 2006.

The company is forecast to report a modest 2.2 percent rise in net profit on slimmer refining margins.

Paris - French shares were mixed in early Thursday trading in the wake of overnight losses on Wall Street and Asian markets.

Frankfurt - European shares struggled to hold on to gains Thursday after a slump in Wall Street and a mixed performance of bourses across Asia.

Amid renewed concerns about the outlook for the global economy and corporate profits, Europe's blue-chip Stoxx 50 began the trading day edging up 0.7 per cent to 2,286 points.

Reflecting the nervous investment climate shares in London gained 0.90 per cent in early trading. Paris' CAC 40 index posted a 0.37-per-cent increase. However, Frankfurt lost 0.51 per cent in early trading.

The oil price managed to pull back from recent losses, rising by 0.2 per cent to 66.87 70 dollars a barrel. In July energy prices were heading towards 150 dollars a barrel.

Seoul - Shares continued their freefall Thursda

The 30-share index Sensex, which had suffered a heavy loss earlier this morning, recovered over 200 points from today’s lows, touching a high of 9,968.12.

Metal, realty, banking, oil & gas stocks led the declining charts.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index fell 2.52% and 2.26% respectively.

After opened the day negatively at 9,683.41, down 486.49 points, the Sensex crashed to 9681.28 following a massive sell-off in front line stocks.

At 10:59 a.m., Sensex stood at 9,926.09, down 243.81 points, after hitting a high of 9,928.11 and a low of 9,681.28.