HONG KONG - AFP Asia-Pacific economic news summary for Thursday:

Stocks-world
TOKYO: Asian stocks fell sharply as investors worried about the worsening global economy, despite continued efforts by governments to ease the financial crisis.

Japan-economy-trade
TOKYO: Japan's trade surplus plunged 94 percent in September from a year earlier, official figures showed, adding to fears that the country's export-dependent economy is in a recession.

Singapore-economy-inflation
SINGAPORE: Singapore's annual inflation rate reached 6.7 percent in September, boosted by higher costs of housing and food, official data showed.

Singapore-HongKong-Lehman-DBS-compensate
SINGAPORE: Singapore's DBS Group Holdings will pay compensation of up to 80 million Singapore dollars (53 million US) to customers who invested in financial products linked to Lehman Brothers, the lender said.

Finance-economy-Australia-guarantee
CANBERRA: Savers are fleeing foreign banks in Australia in favour of safer local accounts, regulators said, as the opposition accused the government of "bungling" its guarantee on deposits.

Finance-economy-SKorea-forex
SEOUL The South Korean won slumped for a third straight day to end at a 10-year low because of mounting concerns over a global financial crisis and plummeting stock prices here and abroad, dealers said.

Singapore-China-trade
BEIJING: China and Singapore signed a free-trade agreement in Beijing, capping two years of negotiations, officials said.

Finance-economy-NZealand-rate
WELLINGTON: New Zealand's central bank cut the official interest rate by a record one percentage point in the face of global financial turmoil and predicted further cuts to come.

Finance-economy-Philippines-jobs
MANILA: Philippine President Gloria Arroyo is to offer a "New Deal" style emergency work programme for the country's poor to help tide them over as the economy slows, her chief aide said.