Asian markets: ‘Ugly end to uglier week’

Asian stock markets plummeted yesterday Friday August 5 following carnage in the US and European markets over fears the world was heading towards another financial crisis.

Already-fragile investor confidence was hammered by more weak US economic data and a warning from the head of the European Commission that the eurozone debt crisis had likely spread to other economies.

“It’s going to be a very ugly end to an even uglier week,” IG Markets analyst Ben Potter said in Sydney, adding that all sectors were expected to take a battering.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 Index closed 3.72 per cent, or 359.30 points, lower at 9,299.88 – a recovery after it dived on opening to its lowest level since the days after the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster.

In Shanghai, the composite index slipped 2.15 per cent, or 57.62 points, to 2,626.42. The index is down nearly 3 per cent for the week.

Analysts said losses in the domestic market were limited compared with regional markets because of the already-low valuations.

Sydney slumped 4.00 per cent, or 171.1 points, to 4,105.4 and Seoul slid 3.70 per cent, or 74.73 points, to 1,943.74. Sydney has lost 8.72 per cent in the past four days, while Seoul has shed around 10.5 per cent in the same period.

Taipei saw the heaviest fall, diving 5.58 per cent, or 464.14 points, to close at 7,853.13.

Fear swept across Asia from Europe and the US, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 4.3 per cent on Thursday, its worst one-day drop in more than two years, as global markets melted down over fears of another world economic downturn.

The Dow was down 512.76 points to 11,383.68; the broader S&P 500 lost 4.8 per cent to 1,200.07, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.1 per cent to 2,556.39.

“There is a deep concern about global growth and of the state of play in the United States in particular,” said City Index analyst Giles Watts.

HONG KONG: Stocks slumped 4.29 per cent yesterday as world markets suffered a huge sell-off over concerns that the global economy is on the verge of another recession.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 938.60 points to 20,946.14.

SINGAPORE: Southeast Asian stock markets tumbled yesterday, with Singapore suffering its biggest loss in over two years as investors sold big-cap and commodity stocks.
The Straits Times Index fell 112.23 points, or 3.61 per cent, to 2,994.78.
Shares in Singapore Telecommunications sank 7.8 per cent on its ex-dividend date. Singapore-listed commodity trading firm Noble Group tumbled 6.9 per cent

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed sharply lower yesterday as investors fled stocks for safe haven assets, unnerved by fresh jitters about Europe’s debt crisis and the increasingly gloomy global economic outlook, dealers said.
They said across the region, all markets moved in tandem to record massive losses.
The benchmark FBM KLCI plunged 22.46 points to 1,524.43, the lowest since May 10, 2011.
The Finance Index lost 271.699 points to 14,489.15, Plantation Index fell 145.51 points to 7,592.94 and the Industrial Index eased 46.81 points to 2,758.24.
The FBM Emas Index gave up 201.851 points to 10,478.30, FBM ACE Index fell 166.47 points to 4,050.02 and the FBM Mid 70 Index declined 335.38 points to 11,513.12.
Losers overwhelmed gainers by 934 to 60 while 152 counters were unchanged, 353 untraded and 37 others suspended.

In other markets:

* Bangkok dropped 2.73 per cent or 30.63 points to 1,093.38.

* Jakarta fell 200.44 points, or 4.86 per cent, to 3,921.64.

* Manila slipped 1.42 per cent, or 63.98 points, to 4,437.55.

VIETNAM: Thanks to VIC, VBH and MSN reached the ceiling price, the VN Index of Hochiminh Stock Exchange (STC) today Friday August 5 ended the week at 400.88 points, rising 4.83 points or 1.22 percent with 86 gainers and 120 percent of listed shares losing points.
Meanwhile, HNX Index tumbled 0.29 points to end at 68.54 pts.
The total market trade reached 38.6 million shares worth 342.9 billion dong.

EUROPE: European stocks suffered more heavy losses yesterday as investors, fearful of a new global economic downturn, unloaded risky assets ahead of key US jobs data.
At 1145 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 1.4 per cent at 978.83 points, while the eurozone’s blue chip Euro STOXX 50 index was down 0.6 per cent at 2,398.88 points, a level not seen in two years. The broader index is on track to post a weekly loss of 11 per cent, its biggest since May 2010.
“We’re in a crash configuration triggered by a confidence crisis. This is getting really serious,” said Jacques Henry, analyst at Louis Capital Markets here.
“Forget sector rotations within equities, it’s sad to say but there is no safe haven here. Even with the big dividend- paying stocks, your investment is not protected.”

AMERICA: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.54 percent on Friday to close at 11,444.61 after a roller-coaster day on the markets, ending the week with steep losses.

The broader S&P 500 was down 0.06 percent to 1,199.38, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.94 percent to 2,532.41.

Stocks experienced wild swings after a better-than-expected US jobs report, hints of progress in Europe’s debt crisis and a rumor — which ultimately did not bear fruit — that the Standard & Poor’s ratings agency would downgrade the United States’s sovereign debt rating.

US financial stocks were hammered amid fears of contagion from Europe’s debt crisis, with Bank of America plunging 7.5 percent and Citigroup falling 3.9 percent.

Kraft Foods rallied 3.2 percent. The food giant announced plans on Thursday to split itself into two companies, a move that was welcomed by many analysts and investors.

Procter & Gamble was up 1.7 percent after announcing that its quarterly profits had beaten analysts’ expectations.

Bond prices, which rallied this week amid the global stock sell-off, fell on Friday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.56 percent from 2.46 percent late Thursday, while that on the 30-year bond climbed to 3.82 percent from 3.72 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Benchmark Currency Rates
	USD 	EUR 	JPY 	GBP 	CHF 	CAD 	AUD 	HKD
HKD 	7.8075 	11.150 	0.0996 	12.797 	10.173 	7.950 	8.1530 	-
AUD 	0.9576 	1.3676 	0.0122 	1.5696 	1.2479 	0.9752 	- 	0.1227
CAD 	0.9820 	1.4025 	0.0125 	1.6096 	1.2796 	- 	1.0255 	0.1258
CHF 	0.7674 	1.0960 	0.0098 	1.2579 	- 	0.7815 	0.8014 	0.0983
GBP 	0.6101 	0.8713 	0.0078 	- 	0.7950 	0.6213 	0.6371 	0.0781
JPY 	78.400 	111.967	- 	128.504	102.161	79.836 	81.869 	10.041
EUR 	0.7002 	- 	0.0089 	1.1477 	0.9124 	0.7130 	0.7312 	0.0897
USD 	- 	1.4282 	0.0128 	1.6391 	1.3031 	1.0183 	1.0442 	0.1281
								Bloomberg

 

Category: Stocks