Market losses and its effects on leaders

An Australian jobs survey on Tuesday stoked fears of rising unemployment and Japanese shares fell near 26-year lows, piling pressure on policymakers to do more to stimulate ailing economies. China's consumer prices fell 1.6 percent in the year to February, the first negative reading since December 2002, potentially giving its central bank further room to cut interest rates or use other policy tools to boost growth.

Japan's finance minister said the government would act decisively to prevent falling stock prices from triggering a credit crunch and take whatever steps were necessary to keep the world's second-largest economy afloat. As the G20 group of rich nations and big emerging powers prepares to meet in London next month, top U.S. economic officials pressed on Monday for coordinated global action to battle the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

"We'd like to act based on an agreement of countries across the globe that each nation will take whatever steps necessary to achieve an economic recovery," said Japanese Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano.

DIRE READINGS

Two private surveys in Australia showed job advertisements

plunged by a record in February, while firms reported the toughest trading conditions since the recession of the early 1990s. The dire readings will only fuel worries that official labour figures due on Thursday would show a long-awaited turn for the worse and strongly for yet lower interest rates and further fiscal stimulus.

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