Asian stocks fall after Wall St sinks on new bank fears

Asian stock markets tumbled Thursday after Wall Street sank as a plunge in Credit Suisse shares reignited worries about a possible bank crisis following the failure of two U.S. banks. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney all dropped, reversing Wednesday's gains.

Francis Lun, CEO, GEO Securities said "The Hong Kong market opened much lower this morning, about 300 points, and financials took the hit. AIA fell sharply, by six per cent, and then, HSBC lost almost three per cent. So the market is in a sharp decline, and the Hang Seng Index is looking at a support level of 19,000. "I think Asian financial markets are at this time, much safer than Europe's or America's. But of course, the American companies like AIA, and a UK company like HSBC will suffer a little bit. But not that much. After this blows over, I think Asian markets including Hong Kong, will recover."

Switzerland's central bank said it could provide some assistance to Credit Suisse “if needed,” and the bank said it would exercise the option to borrow up to 53.7 billion USD.