However, around midday, it appeared to stabilise at about the 422-point mark, Monday's closing price. The London, Paris and Frankfurt markets also hovered around similar levels. The rally in the markets follows rumours that European and US central banks are planning interest-rate cuts. The US central bank, the Fed, has now announced such a cut.

After plummeting on Monday, Asian stock markets took another battering today. For the first time in two years, Tokyo's Nikkei Index closed below the 13,000-point level after a fall of more than five and a half percent. Other stock markets in the region closed showing losses of around eight percent.

On Monday, markets worldwide experienced their biggest losses since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The plunge in share prices is being blamed on fears of a global recession in the wake of the credit crisis in the United States. - By Copyright Radio Netherlands

On another note this morning US Federal Reserve made the most stunning rate cut since 1984. Read Fed Rate Cut: Federal Reserve Surprises Markets with .75 Cut at our site.