Asia-Pacific stock markets ended their worst week in nearly a decade with further falls. Some markets opened slightly higher after a late turnaround on Wall Street overnight encouraged financial stocks in the region.

But any optimism soon evaporated, and the trend for the day looked firmly downward during the morning as the week’s credit-crunch worries persisted. Tokyo posted its biggest percentage drop since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, with the Nikkei dropping 5.4 per cent.