(Fixes spelling in para 4)
* Global stocks tumble to five-year low
* Wall Street set for large losses
* Europe down 8 percent, Japan 9.6 percent
* Dollar and yen soar in risk flight
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Global stock markets plunged on
Friday and currency markets were hit by a flight from risk as
economic decline and corporate damage gripped investors.
Wall Street stock index futures, pointing to large U.S.
losses later, were frozen on and off as they fell as much as
rules allow in one day.
European shares lost 8 percent and Japan's Nikkei <>
tumbled 9.6 percent.
The dollar and yen -- considered among the safer currencies
-- surged to multi-year highs as investors repatriated
investments and looked for shelter.
MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> was down 4
percent at five-year lows and its emerging market benchmark
<.MSCIEF> down more than 6 percent.
The emerging market stock index has now lost more than 15
percent this week and has wiped out all its massive gains from
the last four years.
"The whole market is taking a kicking," said one Paris
trader, who asked not to be named.
The financial crisis has now spread far beyond the banking
sector, with electronics maker Sony Corp and U.S. online
retailer Amazon.com Inc cutting their forecasts in the face of
weakening consumer demand.
South Korea led the decline on Friday with shares falling 11
percent, leading to a brokerage industry group asking its
members to stop selling shares to save the country from more
losses.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index <> was down 8.1
percent having earlier hit its lowest level since mid-2003.
"All of the major developed economies are either in
recession or slipping into recession currently and the growth
rates in emerging economies are slowing very significantly as
well," said Darren Winder, an equity strategist at Cazenove in
London.
"People are finding it very hard at the moment to get any
confidence about what the forces for recovery can be.
Earlier, Japan's Nikkei slid 9.6 percent or 811.90 points to
7,649.08, a 5-1/2 year closing low. The benchmark lost 12
percent in the week and has fallen 50 percent so far this year.
DOLLAR, YEN SOAR
The dollar hit two year highs versus a basket of currencies
<.DXY> and the euro <EUR=>, and sterling hit a six-year low
<GBP=>, reflecting heavy dollar repatriation.
The euro was down 3 percent at $1.2595. Sterling lost 4.5
percent to $1.5580.
"Its extreme risk aversion and deleveraging of risky assets
... and we are seeing safe-haven flows into dollar and yen,"
said Lee Hardman, currency economist at BTM-UFJ.
The dollar was at 13 year lows, down 5.3 percent at 92.61
yen.
Euro zone government bond prices leapt higher. Two-year bond
yields <EU2YT=RR> were 16 basis points lower at 2.606 percent
and 10-year yields <EU10YT=RR> lost 9 basis points to 3.698
percent.
(Additional reporting by Rebekah Curtis, editing by Ron Askew)
