NEW YORK, New York - Stocks in Asia fell sharply on Wednesday following large falls on Wall Street blamed on fears of a looming recession.

"It's all pointing to rising expectations of an economic slowdown, potentially a recession in the U.S. economy, maybe as soon as this year," Carlos Casanova, senior economist at UBP in Hong Kong told Reuters news agency Wednesday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 244.87 points or 0.91 percent to 26,804.60.

China's Shanghai Composite retreated 47.69 points or 1.40 percent to 3,361.52.

The Australian All Ordinaries was stripped of 75.50 points or 1.09 percent to close Wednesday at 6,877.90.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 fell 59.99 points or 0.54 percent to 10,958.81.

South Korea's Kospi Composite plummeted 44.10 points or 1.82 percent to 2,377.99.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong declined 422.08 points or 1.88 percent to 21,996.89.

The U.S. dollar was robust on Wednesday during the Asian trading session. The euro wilted to 1.0502 around the Sydney close. The British pound was lacking interest at 1.2182. The Japanese yen firmed a tad to 136.07. The Swiss franc was little changed at 0.9568.

The Canadian dollar traded in a tight range around 1.2877. The Australian dollar gave up defending the crucial 0.69 level to soften to 0.6885. The New Zealand dollar was unwanted at 0.6238.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite was the hardest hit index, losing 2.98 percent or 343.06 points. The index closed at 11,181.54.

The Dow Jones industrials dived 491.27 points or 1.56 percent to 30,946.99.

The Standard and Poor's 500 retreated 78/56 points or 2.01 percent to 3,821.55.