Hang Seng crumbles 12.7% -- `nothing but pain'

Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:31:31 (GMT)

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong stocks crumbled under a barrage
of selling Monday, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index plunging 12.7%
to its lowest finish in more than four years as investors who bought shares on credit were forced to offload
them in a falling market.

The session also saw benchmark indexes in Mumbai, the Philippines, and
Thailand slump 10% or more, although India's Sensex pared losses by
the end of the session on the back of better-than-expected earnings
from Icici Bank and short-covering by investors in the afternoon.