Asia-Pacific markets plunge

TOKYO, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Major Asia-Pacific stock exchanges closed sharply lower Thursday as investors took to the sidelines on rising concerns of a prolonged global slowdown.

The markets opened lower in response to another washout on the Wall Street overnight and never really recovered throughout the day.

The sell-off was led by the 225-stock Nikkei on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where the main barometer index for Asia closed 457 points lower, or 5.25 percent, to 8239.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also took it on the chin, down 718 points, or 5.1 percent, to end at 13,221.

Australia's All Ordinaries fell 4.7 percent to 3,672.

South Korea's KOSPI was down 3.15 percent to 1.088. The won closed at 1,391.5 to the U.S. dollar, down 32 won from the previous day as offshore investors reduce their local stock holdings, Yonhap news agency reported.