Stocks in Asia Pacific traded wildly on Friday after shares of Wall Street saw a historic drop overnight, as fears over the global coronavirus outbreak continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

In Australia, shares recovered from earlier losses and made a dramatic comeback, with the S&P/ASX 200 closing 4.42% higher at 5,539.30 — after falling more than 8% at its lows during the session. Still, the index remained in bear market territory — more than 20% off its 52-week closing high — which it fell into on Wednesday.

Over in India, the Nifty 50 rose into positive territory as it jumped 2.15%. Earlier, trading on the index was suspended temporarily after the index fell to 10% from the previous day's close and triggered what's commonly referred to as a "circuit breaker" — which is aimed at preventing markets from crashing.

In Thailand, the SET composite index was last declining 0.98% after it making a brief turnaround earlier. In the morning, the Stock Exchange of Thailand said trading of all securities was temporarily halted after the SET composite index dropped 10% and hit the circuit breaker.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 6.08% to close at 17,431.05 after earlier plunging 10% during the session. The moves followed its Thursday close in bear market territory at 18,559.63 — more than 20% off its 52-week closing high. The Topix index dived 4.98% to end its trading day at 1,261.70.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi dropped 3.43% to close at 1,771.44 while the Kosdaq index fell 7.01% to end its trading day at 524. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index declined 1.49%.

Mainland Chinese stocks saw losses on the day, with the Shanghai composite down 1.23% to about 2,887.43 while the Shenzhen component was 1% lower at 10,831.13. The Shenzhen composite also fell 1.076% to around 1,798.98.

Elsewhere, the Straits Times Index in Singapore was 2.42% lower in afternoon trade while Malaysia's FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index dropped 4.42%. The Jakarta Composite in Indonesia also fell 2.4%.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index slipped 0.85%.

"The world's financial system has become dislocated," Kim Mundy, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a note. "Underlying the big moves is a lack of confidence governments have the right plan to contain the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus."