Asia shares fall on recession fears

Trading was chaotic as South Korea slashed interest rates in an emergency meeting and Australia's central bank said it had intervened on Friday to support its tumbling currency.

The actions come in response to last week's steep sell-off in global markets, especially in emerging economies, that set all kinds of, largely unwelcome, milestones. Yet signs of caution were evident throughout on Monday, as gold surged and regional bonds climbed on a bid to safety.

Japan's Nikkei average saw wild swings as a stronger yen and tumbling bank shares weighed on the market amid continuing worry about the global economy.

The benchmark Nikkei index fell to its lowest level in 26 years in early trade before rebounding by late morning to a gain of about 0.5 percent.

Japanese lenders such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group tumbled on concerns they will need to raise billions of dollars to offset hefty losses on their stock portfolios as a global equity market rout continues. MUFJ fell 11 percent.

The MSCI index of Asian stocks outside Japan also swung between gains and losses after hitting its lowest since August 2004 in early trade. The index was down 1.5 percent as of 10:00 p.m. EDT.

South Korean shares fell 1 percent despite an emergency rate cut by the central bank, highlighting investor skepticism that moves by policymakers to shore up economies will be enough to stave off recession and a sharp drop in corporate earnings.

South Korea's central bank lowered its main interest rate by 75 basis points to 4.25 percent in the biggest single-day cut since it started adopting a benchmark interest rate in 1999.

Taiwan fell 5 percent, Australia 1.3 percent and Shanghai 2.3 percent. Hong Kong clawed back early losses to edge slightly higher while Singapore was closed for a holiday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates by another 50 basis points on Wednesday in response to turmoil in financial markets and the threat of a sharp economic downturn.

The U.S. government will release its advance report on third-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday. The GDP data could be the first negative print since the revised reading for the fourth quarter of 2007. That and a raft of other economic data this week could indicate how deep a recession the world's largest economy may face.

SAFETY

Finding safe havens has been a priority for investors in what has been a very volatile past month that has seen governments pledge about $4 trillion to support banks and thaw frozen credit markets in a bid to stem a financial crisis that threatens the global economy.

Emerging markets have been hit especially hard, and several more are expected to turn the International Monetary Fund after Ukraine on Sunday agreed on a $16.5 billion loan package to ease the effects of the financial crisis.

The yen remained near a 13-year peak against the dollar, continuing to outperform other major currencies, while the Australian dollar shed 0.8 percent to $0.6180 despite the intervention by the central bank.

The euro was down 0.4 percent at 118.57 yen, near a six-year low of 113.79 yen hit on Friday. Against the dollar, the euro edged up 0.2 percent to $1.2646, helped by its gains against the yen.

Gold, another asset class viewed as a haven in volatile times, surged to $743.50 an ounce compared to $731.50 in late New York trading on Friday.

Meanwhile, oil was little changed at around $64 a barrel on Monday, stopping a slide that saw crude tumble $4 to a 16-month low despite an emergency production from OPEC.