Eurozone moves on new rules as markets reel
Eurozone governments prepared on Monday to fix terms on bumper emergency loans and new cross-border budget sanctions, just as fresh anxiety about debt in eastern European hit stocks and the euro.
World stocks and the euro plummeted amid worries that Hungary's public finances face a Greece-style meltdown, after a leading government figure said the country was in a "state comparable to that of Greece" and that "the bankruptcy of the state is close."
"The Hungarian deficit alarm has brought credit markets back to square one," ING Credit said in a note.
Tokyo stocks dived 3.8 percent and European markets all suffered sharp falls on opening.
Meanwhile, the euro crumbled to 1.1876 dollars at one stage -- its lowest since March 2006 -- before recovering to 1.1924 in Asian afternoon trade, still down from 1.1967 in New York on Friday.
According to Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the forum of euro finance ministers, agreement on how to underwrite guarantees running to 440 billion euros has been reached, overcoming German resistance to collective solidarity.
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