Tokyo Hits Six-Month Low

Ivaylo
08 Jun, 2006
New York City

Japan

[R]7:30AM Nikkei ends down on global growth fears.[/R]
Asian markets finished lower. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index shed 462.98 points, or 3.07%, to close at 14633.03 points. Toyota Motor also declined, shedding 2.9% while Daiwa Securities dived 4.1%. Taiwan''s key stock index plummeted 4.2% to 6331.81, its six-month low due to domestic political strife and slide in regional stock markets. Hong Kong''s Hang Seng Index dropped 366.44 points, or 2.32%, to 15450.11, with the downtrend led by China Mobile and property developers. Korea’s benchmark Kospi index settled down 3.5% at 1223.13, a seven-month low, struck by an unexpected rate hike by the Bank of Korea and losses on global markets. Mobile phone maker LG Electronics shed 1.8%. Australia''s S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 2.4% down, with oil company Woodside Petroleum losing 1%.

[R]6:30AM Europe sheds more than 2% on growth worries.[/R]
European markets were down in mid morning trading. The FTSE 100 in London lost 2.2% to settle at 5,583.3, while the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt was off 2.3% to 5,417.64 and the CAC-40 in Paris declined 2.5%, stand at 4,704.83. The biggest decliners among the broad based fall were London listed miners with Xstrata off 6.2% and Antofagasta shedding 3.9%. Growth concerns struck industrial groups with Atlas Copco edging 5% down and Thyssen Krupp plunging 4.9%. Auto stocks also performed badly with BMW, shedding 0.4%, Porsche dropping 2.3% , Volkswagen slipping 1% and DaimlerChrysler declining 1.9%.France’s Renault dived 2.8% and Italy’s Fiat lost 2.8%.

Light sweet crude oil for July delivery dropped $1.15 cents to $69.67 a barrel and July Brent crude futures on London''s ICE Futures exchange lost 28 cents to $68.91 a barrel. Gold bullion started trading Thursday at a bid price of $621.85 a troy ounce, higher than $621.25 late Wednesday.The dollar rose slightly against the euro. In morning European trading, the euro purchased $1.2772, down from $1.2794 in New York on Thursday. The British pound eased to $1.8549 from $1.8560 in New York, while the dollar advanced to buy 113.76 Japanese yen from 113.46 yen the day before.

[R]5:00AM Gold declines as dollar continues higher.[/R]
Gold for August delivery finished $2.10 down at $632.60 an ounce on NYME, its lowest close since April 24. Other metals were mixed with silver finishing 4.5 cents up at $11.89 an ounce, platinum off $4.40 at $1,231.50 an ounce and palladium ending $7.10 down at $338.75. Copper overcame morning weakness to finish 9.5 cents up at $3.584 a pound.

Crude oil for July delivery finished $1.68 down at $70.82 a barrel and gasoline futures ended 5.5 cents down at $2.124 a gallon, while heating oil declined 4.7 cents at $1.9954 a gallon.