The global financial crisis imposed more pain on the corporate sectors, prompting heavy losses in stock markets, while the international monetary fund (IMF) readied a rescue of some USD 200 billion for debt-laden countries.

Amid grim financial news from around the world, the stocks saw another tumultuous day on Friday, starting with a horrific 9.6% slump in Tokyo shares that spilled over to Europe, where London`s FTSE plunged 5%.

Wall Street followed other exchanges downwards as a wave of panic selling and a meltdown in share prices swept around the world.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 312.30 points (3.59%) to close at 8,378.95, in a volatile session that saw the blue-chip index down as much as 500 points.

The market action capped a week with a drop of more than 5% for the US blue-chip index.

Iceland`s government said it had asked for USD 2 billion of support from the IMF, the first Western country to do so since 1976, to help emerge from a collapse of its banking sector.

The IMF said it had tentatively agreed to the loan and announced it had set aside more cash to rescue the stricken nations.

The IMF has more than USD 200 billion of loanable funds and can draw on additional resources through two standing borrowing arrangements with groups of IMF member countries.

French auto giants PSA Peugeot-Citroen and Renault ordered huge production cuts, while Japan`s electronics giant Sony Corp. and Europe`s biggest airline Air France-KLM issued profits warnings.

ArcelorMittal, the world`s biggest steel producer, shut smelting furnaces on a temporary basis in France, Germany and Belgium.

New figures showed that industrial confidence in both France and Italy had fallen to the lowest level since 1993.

Bleak data was registered at the jobs front, with Spain`s unemployment rate jumping to 11.33%, the highest level in more than four years. The combined impact sent shares tumbling in Asia, Europe and America.