Asian stock markets plunged Monday as investors shrugged off Washington's passage of a 700 billion dollar bailout plan.

There are signs that financial turmoil is deepening in Europe, threatening to slow global economic growth.

Trading in mainland China, shut for a weeklong holiday, resumed with the main Shanghai index sinking 3.5 percent.

Stocks in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand also fell sharply.

Traders were spooked by Germany's announcement Sunday of a new bailout package totaling 69 billion dollars for Hypo Real Estate. The help for the country's second-biggest commercial property lender is part of a scramble by European governments to save failing banks.