Asian Markets Lose Ground

Ivaylo
11 Sep, 2006
New York City

Japanese stocks declined after a fall in a key corporate-spending indicator raised worries that the economic recovery may be faltering. In Hong Kong, shares followed a sharp decline in regional markets, led by China-related and property companies. Stocks in South Korea closed lower on foreign selling, led by losses in banking and automobile stocks. In Australia, growth worries hit the stock market for the fourth day.

[R]7:30AM Asian markets end lower on energy stocks.[/R]
Asian markets finished lower on Monday. The Nikkei 225 Average finished the day 1.78% lower at 15794.38. Shares dropped as a steeper-than-expected fall in machinery orders pulled down Fanuc, Okuma and other machinery makers. Orders declined 16.7% on a month-to-month basis in July. Fanuc fell 2.1%, Okuma dropped 4.4% and Makino Milling Machine slipped 4.2%. Oil-related stocks dropped after oil futures fell to levels not seen in five months on the NYME last Friday. Japan Petroleum Exploration slumped 3.7% and Inpex Holdings lost 3.4%.

Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 1.15% to close at 16948.59. The fall in the Hang Seng Index was led by China-related shares, particularly energy companies. Offshore oil producer Cnooc shed 2.5%, pulled down by further declines in oil prices. Among other China-related companies, China Mobile dropped 2%.

South Korea Kospi Index declined 1.54% to 1334.08 and Australia S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.42% to 5026. Stocks in South Korea closed lower on foreign selling, led by losses in banking and automobile stocks. Kookmin Bank shed 2% and Woori Finance Holdings fell 2.1%. Affiliates of Hyundai Automotive Group declined after South Korea antitrust regulator announced Monday it started an investigation into suspected violations of fair trading rules at the group affiliates.

In Australia, growth concerns weighed on the stock market for the fourth straihgt day, as investors pulled back from the market in view of weaker-than-expected economic data from Japan. Mining group BHP Billiton, falling 3.5%, tracked decliners.

[R]6:30AM European markets slip Monday on miners weakness and oil.[/R]
European shares were lower by mid-morning on Monday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index slipped 0.4% at 5,853, the German DAX Xetra 30 index dipped 0.3% at 5,777 and the French CAC-40 index edged down 0.5% at 5,049. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Anglo American all lost more than 3% and oil and gas shares including Royal Dutch Shell and Total also lost.

Telecom Italia, mobile-phone provider, is expected to announce Monday that it will sell its mobile unit, according to an online report Sunday. Vodafone Group which gained 0.7% after it said that it plans to launch a fixed-line broadband service before the end of the year. U.K. insurance company Prudential gained 1.5% after a report suggested that reinsurance group Swiss Re has approached Prudential in a bid to buy its closed life fund business for around 5 billion pounds ($9.4 billion).

Oil prices dropped below $66 a barrel Monday amid expectations that OPEC ministers would not change their production targets when they meet later in the day. Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell 28 cents to $65.97 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME.

Gold traded lower Monday at $596.20 an ounce, down $18.70 an ounce from Friday close of $614.90. The euro rose against the U.S. dollar. The European currency bought $1.2683 in early European trading, up from $1.2676 late Friday in New York, after a sell-off in the yen supported the U.S. currency. The British pound also strengthened against the dollar on Monday, trading at $1.8660, up from $1.8649 in New York. The dollar gained against the Japanese currency, trading at 116.96 yen, up from 116.87 on Friday.

[R]5:00AMGold futures fell on Friday on a strong dollar and falling oil price.[/R]
December gold fell $7.60 to $617.30 a troy ounce on the NYME. December silver lost 40 cents to $12.295 an ounce. October platinum settled down $27.40 to $1,229.50 an ounce and December palladium sank $21.90 to $333.60 an ounce. December copper contract shed 8 cents to settle at $3.5680 per pound.

The October crude oil contract lost $1.07 to end at $66.25 a barrel after hitting an intraday low of $66.00, the lowest level for a front month contract since April 5. The October heating oil declined 4.44 cents to $1.8432 a gallon and the October gasoline ended down 3.19 cents at $1.6098 a gallon.

October natural gas finished down 4.3 cents at $5.675 per million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, September Arabica coffee futures closed down 1.05 cents at $1.0245 a pound and December lost 1.45 cents to $1.0615. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October advanced 0.27 cent to settle at 11.89 cents a pound.