Agence France-Presse .

Tokyo Potential losses from US mortgage woes could top 460 billion dollars worldwide with aftershocks to be felt until late 2008, a Japanese private think tank estimated on Friday.

The Japan Research Institute said in a report that combined losses to be suffered by financial institutions and investors worldwide could reach 463.6 billion dollars 'in the worst-case scenario.

' 'We forecast the situation will not subside at least until the latter half of this year as the ratio of default is projected to rise,' the institute said. '2008 is likely to mark a turning point in the picture of global finance due to the subprime issue,' it said.

Global markets have been battered since last year by rising defaults by subprime, or high-risk, US homeowners given loans during a housing boom. The turmoil has raised concern of a credit crunch as banks try to contain losses. The latest round of bleeding on markets was triggered by weak earnings reports by leading US financial institutions.

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