New York: The stock market meltdown continued unabated in the United States on July 23, raising fears about the health of the American economy and its adverse impact globally.

US President George Bush's pep talk to help the market failed to have any impact and blue chip Dow Jones index lost another 2.9 per cent in its value and slid 234.68 points to close at 7,784 .58, recording its lowest value since October 8, 1998. At this point, it has fallen 1,500 points and lost almost 16 per cent in value in last 10 days.

The NASDAQ composite index, heavily weighted with technology stocks, lost 2.8 per cent as it dropped 36.50 points to close at 1,282.65. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 index too was down 27.91 per cent to 819.95, losing in the process 3.3 per cent of its value.

As the nervous investors off loaded their stock, analysts were trying to figure out when the rock bottom would be reached. But there was no agreement and many said it would be futile to hazard any guess. The filing of biggest corporate bankruptcy by WorldCom on July 22 had had its effect.

PTI