Equities: A plunge in equities in Thursday's US session is once again resonating on a broader basis in Asia, where major indices have eclipsed 7% declines in the Dow and S&P500. Japan's indices are seeing the greatest weakness, with the Nikkei dipping into double-digit percentage declines and Topix dropping over 8%. Japan's officials repeatedly attempted to control the damage, with Economic Minister Yosano stating that financial system is not threatened by subprime issues, keeping Japan immune to the “global rout”. Moreover, a bankruptcy of a large insurer Yamato prompted officials to issue statements in support of the insurer sector, suggesting the failure of Yamato was the result of unique company business model. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index saw comparable weakness, declining by over 7%, while Indonesia's Jakarta composite index abandoned its earlier promise of a timely reopening after Thursday's 10% drop. Exchange spokeswoman has declined to define the duration of the trading halt. South Korea's and Australia's major indices were softer by about 7% as well, with the absence of more regional rate cuts translating into the most pessimism seen all week. Investors are increasingly looking to the G7 meeting in Washington this weekend in hopes of another coordinated action to stem the global financial meltdown.

-Currencies: Acute risk aversion carried over into Asian markets from the US equities and predictably punished the high yielders among the major pairs, with Aussie Dollar and British Pound seeing the most selling pressure. Technical landscape in the latter is particularly notable as Sterling falls to 5-year low against the greenback after piercing through psychologically significant £1.70 handle. Low yielding Japanese yen is once again seen in greatest demand, with USD/JPY falling as low as $0.98 at the open of Asian equities after piercing $0.9950 support that was seen holding in US session. EUR/JPY dropped as low as €133 - two big figures below the opening levels of the Asian session - while GBP/JPY has found consistent selling pressure at technically key support turned resistance at £169.80 to sub £167 lows. Over in emerging markets, South Korean Won has briefly reversed some of its recent declines, with USD/KRW bouncing off 1,400. Singapore dollar is off by a full figure and Hong Kong dollar remaining largely rangebound between 7.76 and 7.77.

- Commodities: Crude oil prices are lower by more than 4.7%, after declining by more than 5% to a 1-year low earlier during the session. Crude is tracking the weakness in Asian equities and the weaker EUR. Spot Gold is higher by more than 3.5%, after moving to a multi-week high earlier during the session. Spot Gold and the USD are both continuing to gain on safe-haven demand. In the copper market, Shanghai Copper is down by its 4% daily limit, while the LME copper contract is lower by more than 8% on the session. Additionally, LME nickel is declining by more than 9.5% and trading near a 3-year low.

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