European stocks were trading lower Thursday, as markets across Asia experienced dramatic drops amid mounting fears of a global recession.

The major markets -- London, Paris and Frankfurt -- were off by as much as 6 percent shortly after the open but then climbed back towards the 2 to 4 percent range, a day after Wall Street shed nearly 8 percent of its value, or more than $1 trillion.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei fell more than 11 percent, its worst loss in two decades, and South Korea's KOSPI index closed down 9.4 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished the day down 5.11 percent, at 15,180.02 , while Australia's All Ordinaries index and Singapore's Straits Times index both fell 6.7 percent.

In India, Mumbai's BSE SENSEX fell 6.3 percent, and Taiwan Weighted index slipped 3.3 percent.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso blamed the renewed drop in markets, which had rebounded earlier this week, on investor concerns that the U.S. government's $700 billion bank bailout was insufficient, The Associated Press reported.

"Since it was insufficient, the market is again falling sharply," Aso told lawmakers. He did not elaborate.

The drop on Wall Street Wednesday came amid the worst U.S. retail sales figures in three years, a surge in UK unemployment and predictions that recessions were unavoidable in the U.S. and Europe.

The Dow Jones fell 733 points, or 7.9 percent, to 8,577, the second largest daily point loss ever, behind the 777-point loss on September 29. The Nasdaq lost 8.5 percent and the S&P nine percent.

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