Asia Closes Broadly Lower

Ivaylo
30 May, 2001
New York City

Shares in Tokyo declined for a second day in a row on weak consumer spending and industrial production data. Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.4% and Hong Kong''s Hang Seng also dropped 0.7%. South Korea

[R]7:30AM Asian stocks closed generally lower.[/R]
Asian markets closed broadly down. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 56.23 points, or 0.4%, to close at 15859.45. Seven & I Holdings edged down 1.5% and retailer Daiei was down 3.3%. Auto stocks also suffered. Nissan Motor lost 0.9% and tire maker Bridgestone declined 2.3%.Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng Index dropped 105.88 points, or 0.7%, to 15,857.89. Mobile operator China Unicorn shed 2.8% and telecommunications company China Netcom lost 2.4%. Banks finished mixed. HSBC Holdings inched 0.2% up, while Hang Seng Bank lost 0.4%. South Korea’s Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, finished down 0.9%, or 11.52 points, at 1317.70. Kookmin Bank, the country’s major lender, shed 2.2%, while Korea Exchange Bank advanced 2.6%. Exporters also lost, with Samsung Electronics dropping 1.6% and LG.Philips LCD falling 3.3%. Car maker Hyundai Motor plunged 4.8%. Singapore's Straits Times Index finished up 1.63 points, or 0.1%, at 2441.54 points to buck the downtrend but Thai Beverage, the region’s largest IPO, failed to make an impressive debut as investors were worried about the IPO’s large size. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 4.1 points to close at 5105.4 points. BHP Billiton dropped 0.5% and Rio Tinto shed 1.3%.

[R]6:30AM European shares decline on fears over interest rates and oil.[/R]
European markets traded lower in the morning. London’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.3% to 5,716.5, while Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax fell 1.1% to 5,691.51 and the CAC 40 in Paris, shed 1.1% to 4,961.06. Developments in the steel sector became obscured as opposition to Arcelor’s merger with Severstal stepped up. Mittal Steel, on the other hand said it would be content with a minority stake in Arcelor In this way, Mittal Steel, together with Severstal would become the two biggest shareholders. Stocks in Arcelor shed 0.9% while Severstal dropped 2.6% and Mittal edged down 0.8%. The chances of a more aggressive 50-point hike affected the market to a greater extent, hitting bank stocks. Among the biggest decliners were Commerzbank, falling 3.1% and National Bank of Greece, shedding 2.2%. There was a lot of volatility in the oil sector. OMV plunged 4.5% and France’s Total slid 1.1%. UK benchmark Vodafone had all eyes on its final results. It posted surprising revenue results, proving its loss was not as bad as expected.

Light, sweet crude oil for July delivery rose 4 cents to $71.41 a barrel, while July Brent crude at London's ICE Futures exchange advanced 3 cents to $70.62 a barrel. Gold traded higher on Tuesday at $654.30 an ounce, up $5.30 an ounce from Monday's close of $649.00. The dollar fell against the euro. The European currency advanced to $1.2836 from $1.2751, while the British pound rose to $1.8762 from $1.8594. The dollar fell more than half a yen to below 112 yen at one point before rising again to 112.01 yen.