Stocks plunged in New York yesterday, sending the Dow industrials into another tripledigit tailspin as a reassessment of Japanese finances showed little progress in its effort to restart Asia's stalled economic engine.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 112.00 points - 1.3% - to 8,462.85. An earlier 258-point plunge put the Dow below last week's low point, a level many had hoped would represent a bottom in the market's sudden retreat from record terrain.

The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 18.42 to 1,064.72, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 48.64 to 1,790.56.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a nine-to-two margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 570 up, 2,613 down and 380 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 770.94 million shares, against 572.64 million in the previous session.

The NYSE composite index slid 7.77 to 537.95, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 20.53 to 659.27.