Asian, European stocks in sell-off

TOKYO, March 5 (UPI) -- Asian and European stock indexes fell Monday following last week's plunge that wiped out $1.5 trillion in world market value.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 575.68 points, or 3.34 percent, to close at 16,642.25 points -- its steepest drop in nine months.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 4 percent to its lowest point since mid-December. Australia's stock market sank 2.3 percent. South Korea's benchmark index dropped 2.7 percent and Indian stocks fell 4.2 percent.

Indexes in the Philippines and Malaysia also closed down sharply.

The yen was up more than 1 percent against the U.S. dollar.

In early afternoon European trading, the FTSE Eurofirst 300, jointly owned by London's FTSE and Paris's Euronext NV, was down 1.9 percent to 1,435.59.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost 2 percent to 353.43. Frankfurt's Xetra Dax blue-chip index shed 2 percent to 6,472.46. The CAC 40 in Paris lost 1.7 percent to 5,332.64. London's FTSE 100 slid 1.5 percent to 6,022.50.