Asia, Pacific market plunge

(CNN) - Asian and Pacific markets opened sharply lower Tuesday, a day after Wall Street was hammered by investor bailouts following confirmation that the United States is mired in a recession that is likely to continue for some time.

Tokyo's Nikkei index slid just under 5 percent in early trading, Australia's All Ordinaries index dropped 2.74 percent and Seoul's KOSPI index fell 3.53 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 680 points, its fourth-biggest single-session decline on a point basis ever. The decline was 7.7 percent in percentage terms - the 12th worst percentage one-day decline ever. It ended at 8,149.

Year-to-date, the Dow is down 38.6 percent and has lost 42.5 percent from its record close of 14,164.53 on October 9, 2007.