Stock markets opened on a weak note on Friday morning, with the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange trading down by over 300 points in early trade. The Sensex fell by 351 points in opening trade to 16,118, while the National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty index slipped below the 4,900-point mark with a fall of over 100 points. The sharp overnight plunge of 4-6 per cent in the benchmark indices in the US led to the heavy fall in other Asian markets too. Stocks in China were down over 1 per cent, while markets in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and Taiwan were down by over 2 per cent. European markets also fell sharply on Thursday amid deepening fears of major global economies, including the US, dipping into a recession again. Indian stocks had plunged sharply on Thursday as well amid global market turmoil, with the Sensex tanking by 371 points to 16,469, its lowest level in nearly 15 months.