Nikkei plunges 9.4 percent, biggest one-day fall since '87

TOKYO (Reuters) - The NIKKEI (NIKKEI225.)average plunged 9.4 percent on Wednesday, wiping out $250 billion in market value in its biggest drop since the 1987 stock market crash, on growing fears of a global recession and a spike in the yen.

Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> tumbled more than 11 percent on growing expectations that the crisis would bite deeper into its profits, while the yen hit a six-month high against the dollar, adding to the pressure on exporter shares.

Panic over the fast-spreading financial crisis dragged down markets across Asia, with Japanese steelmakers such as Nippon Steel Corp <5401.T> sliding, as the Nikkei set another five-year closing low. It has lost 19 percent in the past five days.

"The deteriorating outlook for the economy and the deepening financial crisis are pushing fear to its limit," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

"Investors want to dump shares as their willingness to take risks has shrunk, but no one wants to buy even if stocks are valued cheaply."

The yen climbed to a six-month high against the tumbling U.S. dollar, as investors stampeded away from stocks and risky positions.

The Nikkei posted its biggest one-day fall since a 14.9 percent drop on October 20, 1987, the day after Black Monday, and logged the third-largest one-day drop ever.

The Indonesia Stock Exchange halted trading on Wednesday after the benchmark composite index dropped more than 10 percent, while Hong Kong's main stock market index dropped more than 5 percent.