Thai Scare Weighs on Asia

Ivaylo
20 Sep, 2006
New York City

Several banks started considering lowering the credit rating of the country, including Standard & Poor''s Ratings Services. Some analysts, though, predicted that the coup impact may be limited and possibly even wrench Thailand out of the political crisis. Concerns about the coup contributed to declines on Asian markets as investors recalled how a slump in the Thai baht in 1997 sparked a crisis in emerging markets in Asia and around the world.

[R]7:30AM The coup in Thailand presses Asian markets down.[/R]
Asian markets finished lower on Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 Average finished the day 0.98% lower at 15718.67. Shares closed at their lowest levels in six weeks as worries of a slowdown in the U.S. pulled down blue-chip export names in the technology and automobile sectors. Honda Motor lost 0.8%, electronics conglomerate Toshiba sank 2.4% and Hitachi stumbled 2.2%.

South Korea Kospi Index dropped 0.55% to 1366.44 but of all the regional indexes, though, the Manila PSE was the biggest decliner, closing 1.99% lower at 2512.76. Blue-chip Philippine Long Distance Telephone was the most actively traded stock, shedding 4.1% after the stock rose 15% during the past five sessions.

Taipei lost 0.06% to close at 6877.77, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.2% lower at 1732.45, and Australia S&P/ASX 200 decreased 1.15% to 4998.50. Bucking the downward trend, Hong Kong shares closed higher, recovering from a morning slip following the coup in Thailand, on expectations the U.S. Fed will leave U.S. rates steady at its meeting this week. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.96% to finish at 17512.96.

[R]6:30AM European markets trade in a tight range Wednesday on Fed meeting.[/R]
European markets were mixed by mid-morning on Wednesday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index edged down less than 0.1% at 5,830, while the German DAX Xetra 30 index advanced 0.3% at 5,887 and the French CAC-40 index increased 0.2% at 5,124. Inditex fell 0.8% amid concerns about pressures on margins in the Spanish fashion retailer first-half results.

Other decliners included EADS falling 0.7%, following a report in Les Echoes that further delays in delivery of the A380 superjumbo were likely due to assembly problems. Euronex lost 0.8% and Deutsche Boerse slipped 0.4%. Aeroports de Paris lost 3.5% after it said its first-half net profit fell 49.2%.

SAP shares gained 1.8% in early Frankfurt trading after rival Oracle Corp. quarterly profit climbed 29% and as SAP predicted revenue growth for the period that was stronger than the current analyst expectation. Business Objects rose 1% and Cap Gemini increased 1.1%.

Oil slumped to its lowest since March, trading at $60.88 a barrel, after U.S. President George W. Bush supported a diplomatic effort to end a dispute over Iran nuclear program. Prices have fallen 21% the past two months. Gold was trading at $574.80 an ounce Wednesday, down $8.80 an ounce from Tuesday close of $583.60.

The euro fell slightly against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday ahead of a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank on whether to raise interest rates. In morning trading, the euro fell slightly to $1.2671, down from $1.2677 late Tuesday in New York. The British pound was unchanged at $1.8816 from the day before. The dollar slipped to 117.08 yen from 117.57 yen on Tuesday

[R]5:00AM Precious metals fell across the board on Tuesday despite dollar weakness[/R]
The benchmark December gold ended $9.60 lower at $583.20 a troy ounce at the NYME. December silver closed 34.5 cents lower at $10.945 an ounce. October platinum settled $12 lower at $1,154.90 an ounce while December palladium was off $2.50 at $309.05 an ounce. December copper fell 3.90 cents to settle at $3.3755 per pound.

October crude oil ended down $2.14 at $61.66 a barrel, the lowest level for a front-month contract since March 22. October gasoline dipped 7.58 cents to settle at $1.5038 a gallon, the lowest level since Feb. 27. October heating oil lost 3.41 cents at $1.6916 a gallon. October natural gas finished up 6.4 cents at $5.006 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures closed up 1.15 cents at $1.0310 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October finished down 0.06 cent at 12.30 cents a pound.