Asian stocks slide on US subprime mess
HONG KONG, March 7: Asian shares tumbled on Friday after more bad news out of the ailing US economy about the subprime mortgage crisis, capping a difficult week for regional bourses.
Hong Kong led the fallers among Asia’s bigger markets, shedding 3.6 per cent, with Tokyo and Sydney also sliding more than three per cent. South Korea tumbled two per cent while Shanghai, Taipei and Singapore both slipped over one per cent.Markets took their cue from Wall Street, which tumbled Thursday as Thornburg Mortgage and a bond fund from the Carlyle Group became the latest to reveal problems with investments linked to US subprime mortgages.
The bad news deepened when the US Federal Reserve announced that debt on American homes had exceeded equity for the first time since the Fed began tracking the figures in 1945.
The subprime default crisis has led to huge losses on investments linked to the homeloans and ballooned into a global credit crunch threatening a US-led world economic slowdown.
TOKYO: Japanese share prices tumbled 3.27 per cent to a six-week low, hit by a stronger yen and a sell-off on Wall Street where fresh credit market problems rattled investors, dealers said.
Decliners outnumbered gainers 1,491 to 180, with 51 issues unchanged.
Turnover increased to 2.08 billion shares from 1.99 billion Thursday.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed down 3.6 per cent, dealers said.
The Hang Seng index closed down 841.4 points at 22,501.33. Turnover was 83.02 billion Hong Kong dollars (10.66 billion US).
Investors were wary ahead of Chinese inflation data, which could lead to more measures to slow the Chinese economy, and key US jobs figures.
SYDNEY: Australian shares closed down 3.2 per cent, dealers said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was 171.5 points lower at 5264, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 163 points to 5368.9.
Volume was 1.7 billion shares worth 7.0 billion dollars (6.5 billion US).
SINGAPORE: Singapore shares prices closed 1.77 per cent lower, dealers said.
The main Straits Times index fell 51.64 points to 2,866.28 on volume of 1.39 billion shares worth 1.67 billion Singapore dollars (1.21 billion US).
DBS Group lost 32 cents to 16.68 dollars. City Developments lost 30 cents at 10.80 dollars.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed down 0.3 per cent, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed down 3.36 points at 1,296.33.
The Malaysian market may continue to perform poorly after the polls as the trend is unlikely to turn positive any time soon, Wong said.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed down 1.26 per cent, dealers said.
The benchmark NZX-50 gross index fell 45.58 points to close at 3,558.26.
It’s a really difficult market at the moment, UBS broker Campbell Stuart said. “Financials in Australia in particular are setting the tone and are just getting absolutely slaughtered.
MUMBAI: Stock market close delayed to 1045 GMT between March 4 and March 18.---AFP