TOKYO — A massive sell-off on Wall Street and escalating fears of a global recession sent Asian stocks plunging today, with Japan's benchmark index plunging more than 10 percent.

"Selling is unstoppable in New York and Tokyo," said Yutaka Miura, senior strategist at Shinko Securities Co. Ltd. in Tokyo. "Investors were gripped by fear."

Markets in Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines were all down more than 7 percent. Shanghai's index was down 3.8 percent.

Indonesian authorities suspended trading indefinitely on the Jakarta Stock Exchange after they had halted trading Wednesday when the index plunged more than 21 percent over three days.

In Tokyo, drama left individual investors shellshocked.

Kenji Akasaka, 69, president of a local printing company, said he had never seen it this bad in the 40 years he has traded stocks.

"I pray before I go to bed that the Dow will recover," said Akasaka, 69.