TOKYO: Asian stock markets tumbled Thursday, with benchmarks in Japan and Hong Kong both losing more than 5 percent, after fears of a protracted recession sent Wall Street plunging toit lowest point in five years.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 average lost 534.82 points, or 6.5percent to 7, 738.40 as Japan posted its second trade deficit in three months on plummeting demand for the nation's exports.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index sank 704.29 points, or 5.5percent, to 12,111.51, and South Korea's main stock measure lost 6.6percent.

In Australia, the key benchmark declined 4.2 percent as weakening commodity prices dragged down the country's resource giants like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were both down 9 percent or more.

In New York overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled427.47 points, or 5.07 percent, to 7,997.28, while the S&P 500 slid52.54 points, or 6.12 percent, to 806.58. Both closed at their lowest levels since March 2003, and are rapidly approaching the lowsof the 2000 to 2002 bear market.