South Korea's top financial regulator plans to meet with heads of local securities firms and asset managers later Tuesday in a bid to calm financial market instability sparked by a U.S. credit downgrade, officials said.

   Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), plans to hold a meeting in the morning with chief executives from local brokerages and asset management companies to talk about recent market uneasiness, the watchdog said.

   The move came as the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) tumbled 3.82 percent to a 10-month low of 1,869.45 on Monday on panic selling sparked by jitters about a global double-dip recession.

   Global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. credit rating by one notch to "AA+" from a top-tier "AAA" on Friday, sending global financial markets into a tailspin.

Source: Yonhap News (August 9, 2011)