Asian stocks (MXAP) fell for a second day, while the won declined and gold rose as European leaders held late night talks on the debt crisis and economic reports signaled weaker economic growth in Japan andSouth Korea.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.3 percent as of 11:41 a.m. in Tokyo after global equities fell the most in two weeks yesterday. The Kospi Index slumped 1.7 percent and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average retreated 1.6 percent. Gold for immediate delivery gained 0.3 percent to $1,714.13 an ounce. The won slipped 0.7 percent to 1,138.95 per dollar, while the euro held at $1.3352. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.2 percent. The MSCI China Index (MXCN) sank 2 percent even after inflation cooled to the slowest pace in 14 months.
ECB President Mario Draghi said he did not necessarily signal the central bank would increase government bond purchases when he spoke last week, adding that the program was not eternal or infinite. Japan’s economy grew less than the government’s initial estimate last quarter and the Bank of Korea said the nation’s growth is set to slow next year. Data later today may show industrial output in China climbed at the slowest pace in two years.
“The ECB outcome means the European issues won’t be solved easily,” said Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Tokyo-based Nomura Holdings Inc. “The best scenario that the market had expected was for the ECB to decide to expand purchases of government bonds and then for the European Union to strengthen finance regulations” at a summit being held in Brussels.
European Banks
The MSCI World Index lost 1.8 percent yesterday, the most since Nov. 23. The European Banking Authority said the region’s banks will need to raise 114.7 billion euros ($152.7 billion) in fresh capital, up from a previous estimate of 106 billion euros. The ECB reduced the benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 1 percent yesterday, matching a record low.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.9 percent and the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index (SHCOMP) slid 0.2 percent. China’s industrial output probably rose 12.6 percent last month, the slowest pace since August 2009, based on the median forecast of economists tracked by Bloomberg. Consumer prices increased 4.2 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said. That was lower than all estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of 35 economists that had a median forecast of 4.5 percent.
“Curbing inflation is a good thing, but the reason why inflation is slowing is because the global economy is slowing,” said Koji Toda, chief fund manager at Resona Bank Ltd. in Tokyo, which oversees the equivalent of $68 billion. “If you see that fact, you can’t be so optimistic.”
Japan Growth
Japan’s gross domestic product increased at an annualized 5.6 percent in the three months ended Sept. 30, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today, compared with a preliminary figure of 6 percent. The median forecast of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an increase of 5.2 percent.
S&P 500 futures increased to 1,232.50. U.S. 10-year yields rose two basis points to 1.99 percent after reaching the lowest level in a month yesterday. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment probably rose to 65.8 in December from 64.1 in November, the highest level since June, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists before the data is released today.
(source: Bloomberg)
Số lượt đọc:
5
-
Cập nhật lần cuối:
09/12/2011 10:43:00 AM | 