Asian Markets continue to fall on subprime fears led by Japan and Korea (MarketWatch) (11-01-2008)

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) - Coming back into the forefront with a news report that speaks of additional writedowns Merrill Lynch revived subprime fears and sent a number of Asian markets sharply lower on Friday.

Particularly hard hit, stocks tumbled in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney in late afternoon trading, following a news report by the New York Times reported that the brokerage will write down an additional $15 billion from investments linked to the troubled subprime mortgage sector.

The Nikkei 225 ended the session 1.9% lower, shedding 277.32 points to end at 14,110.79. The broader Topix index lost 1.7% at 1,377.58.

South Korea's Kospi lost 2.3% at 1,782.27, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 1.6% at 5,981.60 and New Zealand's NZX 50 shed 0.7% at 3,872.18.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index lost 0.9% at 26,979.29 in afternoon trading and Taiwan's Weighted index slipped 0.4% to 8,029.31.

Once again Indian and Chinese stocks gained, with China's Shanghai Composite advancing by 0.3% at 5,472.79 and India's Sensex rising 1% to 20,794.37.

In Tokyo trading, financials extended losses with shares of Sumitomo lost 2.51%, Mizuho Financial Group gave up 1% and Nomura Holdings tumbled 4.5%.

In Sydney, shares of mining giant BHP Billiton gave up 2%, while among financials, National Australia Bank shed 1.5% and Macquarie Group shed 2%.

February gold futures hit a record high at $899.9 an ounce in electronic trading, before slipping back to $895.1, a decline of $1.50 an ounce. The contract had finished up $11.90 at $893.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude oil for February delivery gained 48 cents at $94.19 a barrel in electronic trading, after finishing $1.96 higher at $93.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 117.8 points to 12,853.1, registering a late surge following a volatile session, after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke signaled more interest-rate cuts ahead. The S&P 500 index rose 11.2 points to 1,420.33, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 13.97 points to 2,488.52.

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