Asian stocks fell, paring the biggest weekly advance in six, the euro touched an 11-year low versus the yen and U.S. equity futures slid afterStandard & Poor’s stripped France of its top credit rating and cut eight other euro-zone nations.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) sank 0.8 percent as of 9:24 a.m. in Tokyo following a 2.2 percent gain last week. The euro weakened 0.3 percent to 97.24 yen and the Australian dollar declined against 16 major peers. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.4 percent. Gold retreated 0.2 percent to $1,635.98 an ounce.
France will auction as much as 8.7 billion euros ($11 billion) in bills today, followed by the European Financial Stability Facility’s 1.5 billion-euro sale tomorrow. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said containing the country’s public debt load, the world’s largest, is critical. S&P warned that Europe’s efforts to fight its crisis are falling short.
“It’s unrealistic to expect Europe to make progress in dealing with debt issues in a straight line without having hiccups,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1 billion at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. in Sydney. S&P’s ratings downgrades are “not going to help investor sentiment.”
Greece may resume talks with its creditors after failing to agree on terms of a debt-swap deal last week. Japanese machinery orders rose 14.8 percent in November, the most in almost four years, and data later today may show India’s inflation eased to a two-year low, based on the median economist estimate from a Bloomberg survey.
S&P 500 futures slid to 1,283.9. Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. are among companies to report quarterly results this week. U.S. stock markets are closed for a holiday today.
(source: Bloomberg)
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16/01/2012 09:28:15 AM | 