Asian Pacific stock markets fall

(CNN) - Asian and Pacific stock markets dropped dramatically on Thursday, a day after Wall Street took a tremendous tumble.

Japan's Nikkei index was down more than 9 percent at midday.  Australia's All Ordinaries index also dipped, falling nearly 6 percent. And in Seoul, South Korea's KOSPI index dropped 6.5 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slumped 6.5 percent in early trading.   Shanghai Composite fell 3.5 percent.

The Dow Jones fell more than 730 points Wednesday.