World Markets Trade Lower, Bank Profit Worries

123jump.com Staff
22 Jan, 2010
New York City

Markets in Europe traded lower and in Asia declined sharply. Gold, copper and crude oil also fell after a surge in Chinese GDP stoked speculation of tighter monetary policies. Industrial orders in the euro-zone increased and UK retail sales in December less than expected.

[R]9:30 AM New York – Markets in Europe traded lower and in Asia declined sharply. Gold, copper and crude oil also fell after a surge in Chinese GDP stoked speculation of tighter monetary policies. Industrial orders in the euro-zone increased and UK retail sales in December less than expected.[/R]

Markets in Asia closed lower and in Europe declined near the end of trading on the growing worries that commodities prices are heading lower and banks may face tighter restrictions.

The U.S. administration plan to separate risk activities from the traditional banks sent banks and financial stocks lower. Banks in Europe, Japan and Hong Kong declined.

Rising inflation in India has increased the prospects of rate increase at the next Reserve Bank meeting on Jan 29. The latest read on wholesale inflation index showed an surge above 13%.

Investors decided to yank $348 million from Chinese equities according to the data released by an independent researcher EPFR Global in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The steady rise of the dollar in the last seven weeks has dragged gold and copper near their lows last seen three weeks ago. Gold hovered near its low of $1,090 an ounce and copper traded near 58,610 yuan or $8,590 per ton in Shanghai trading.

EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 27.7 billion euro in the third quarter of 2009, compared with a deficit of 73.5 billion in the third quarter of 2008 and a deficit of 49.0 billion in the second quarter of 2009.

Industrial new orders for EU16 area increased by 1.6% in November 2009, after an decrease of 1.9% in October and in EU27 new orders rose by 1.8% in November, after a fall of 1.4% in October.

Year-on-Year UK volume of retail sales in December rose 2.1%. Predominantly food stores sales increased 2.8%. The largest increase was textile, clothing and footwear stores at 4.7%. Total sales volume from October to December increased 2.7%.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 277.86 or 2.56% to 10,590.55, and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 136.49 or 0.65% to 20,762.18, and CSI 300 index in China lower 42.38 or 1.24% to 3,366.20. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 76.60 or 1.59% to 4,750.60. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was lower 7.91 or 0.60% to 1,300.45.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 37.66 or 2.19% to close at 1,684.35. SET index in Thailand closed lower 4.89 or 0.68% to 714.10. JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 28.04 or 1.06% to 2,610.34. The Sensex index in India decreased 191.46 or 1.12% to 16,859.68.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded lower 31.29 or 0.59% to 5,303.81, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 21.39 or 0.55% to 3,840.77 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded lower 38.12 or 0.66% to 5,708.85. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 70.29 or 1.07% to 6,508.66.