Asian markets were trading weak. Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 5.36 per cent or 1276.86 points at 22,542. Japan's Nikkei plunged 4.41 per cent or 587.63 points at 12,738.31. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted slipped 5.82 per cent or 472.13 points at 7,638.07. Singapore's Straits Times fell 3.5 per cent or 102.11 points at 2,815.04. South Korea's Seoul Composite was down 3.65 per cent or 61.48 points at 1,622.08.

Global markets, too, have crashed across the board on Tuesday morning with all the Asiam markets registering a huge fall.

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The biggest drop was in Hong Kong where the Hang Seng was down nearly seven per cent followed by Singapore's Straits, Taiwan and Shanghai in China down four per cent.

Other emerging markets have also dropped sharply. Although US markets were closed on Monday, 35 countries including France and Italy have entered the bear phase, which means a drop of 20 per cent from their highs. The Russia stock exchange was down 7.5 per cent.