Asian stocks walloped by credit woes

Asian stocks were battered by fresh credit woes and a slumping dollar Thursday, with Tokyo hitting a 30-month low as initial euphoria over the Federal Reserve's cash injection evaporated.
The embattled greenback plunged to a 12-year low against the yen, adding to concerns about the outlook for Japanese corporate earnings.
Tokyo closed down 3.3 percent, Seoul lost 2.6 percent, Sydney shed 2.3 percent and Shanghai declined 2.4 percent. Hong Kong was 3.8 percent lower in afternoon trade as Singapore gave up 3.1 percent.
Investors dumped shares after a troubled fund backed by US private equity giant Carlyle said it expected its creditors to seize its remaining assets after failing to strike a deal on its financing.
"The bad news on Carlyle may be a negative factor that could spell trouble for the US market," said Shinko Securities strategist Tsuyoshi Segawa.
Wednesday's euphoria generated by the Fed's plan to pump 200 billion dollars into stressed financial markets also faded as investors started to question whether the action will do much to ease the US economic troubles.
The move "will definitely be better for the banking sector but that does not deal with the issues in the market -- the US housing slump and (poor) jobs data," said Carmen Lee, research head at OCBC Investment Research in Singapore.
"The threat of recession is still very much alive and there are a lot of factors that need to be taken care of."
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 46.57 points or 0.38 percent at 12,110.24 on Wednesday, setting Asia up for a tough day.
"Investors seemed to be sceptical over the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve's liquidity plan," said Tokai Tokyo Research Center strategist Toshio Sumitani. "Also, they were concerned about the yen's rise and high oil prices."
The dollar was bid as low as 100.02 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, the lowest level since December 1995 and down sharply from 101.79 yen in New York.
"The dollar is totally out of market favour now," said Kenichi Yumoto, vice president of foreign exchange sales at Societe Generale in Tokyo.