Asia Tumbles On Interest Rate Concerns

Ivaylo
13 Jun, 2001
New York City

Japan

[R]7:15AM Asian stocks plunge on mounting U.S. interest rates fears.[/R]
Asian markets finished sharply lower. Asian stocks, being until early May among the world''s top performers this year, were hit by a sell-off last Thursday due to worries that higher U.S. rates would spark a global slowdown. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plunged 4.14% to 14218.60, the lowest finish since Nov. 16, 2005 and its biggest percentage loss in a single day since May 10, 2004. The index has plummeted 11.75% since the beginning of this year. Tech stocks were hit hard, as Sharp lost 7.09% and Matsushita Electric Company lost 5.54%. Kyocera plunged 5.57%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng followed in Tokyo’s footsteps, losing 2.5% to 15234.42. Its fall intensified in the afternoon session after traders came back from the midday break to find the Nikkei had closed down 4.1%. South Korea''s Kospi Index tumbled 2.9% to 1203.86, its lowest finishing level since Nov. 1, 2005. Stocks in New Zealand and Malaysia performed better, but each shed about 0.5%. Australia''s benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 2.6% to 4838.9, 10.5% lower than its record high of 5406.7, hit less than five weeks ago.

[R]6:30 AM European shares fall on global sell-off [/R]
European shares were lower in early trading. In London, the FTSE 100 shed 1.6% to 5,533.5, following declines across the mining sector. The German Xetra Dax fell 1.7% at 5,301.3 and the French CAC 40 dropped 1.9% to 4,637.7. The decline was broadly based with all the main Eurozone sectors trading lower and only a few individual stocks gaining slightly. On the corporate front, Schering was the only gainer on the German market, up 0.6% as the struggle for control of the German healthcare group continued with rivals Bayer and Merck fighting in an unprecedented takeover battle which has immobilized investors in Germany. Vinci was up 1.45 and led the FTSE Eurofirst 300 on bid hopes after reports of interest from rival French utility Veolia Environnement, which was down 2.7%.

Light sweet crude oil for July fell 32 cents to $70.04 a barrel by 0334 GMT, extending Monday''s $1.27 plunge. London Brent shed 31 cents to $68.62 a barrel. Gold bullion opened Tuesday at a bid price of $593.70 a troy ounce, down from $608.70 late Monday. The euro hit a one-month low of $1.2558, but steadied at $1.2590 by 0954 GMT. The dollar also hit a six-week high against the yen at 114.77 yen, before easing to 114.10 yen, steady from the U.S. close. The British pound stood at $1.8435 versus the dollar.

[R]5:00AM Gold declines on a strong dollar and weakness in the energy sector.[/R]
August gold finished down $1.50 to $611.30 a Troy ounce on NYME, while July silver fell 14.5 cents to $11.065 an ounce. July platinum shed $18.80 to $1,171.40 an ounce, while September palladium slipped $9.80 to $315.75 an ounce. The most-traded July copper contract dropped 3.90 cents to settle at $3.2285 per pound.

The July crude oil contract closed $1.27 lower at $70.36 a barrel. July gasoline shed 2.85 cents to $2.1243 a gallon. On the New York Board of Trade, July Arabica coffee finished 0.25 cent lower at 95.65 cents a pound and September declined 0.25 cent to 98.45 cents. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for July ended down 0.14 cent at 14.91 cents a pound while October lost 0.16 cent to 15.27 cents a pound.