Business

Friday August 17, 2007

Asian stocks, including Malaysia's, tumble again Friday



KUALA LUMPUR: Asian shares tumbled again Friday, with the Malaysian Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) benchmark closing lower.

The region showed little sign of staging a recovery amid a global sell-off over U.S. credit fears. European stocks, meanwhile, were mixed in early trade.

In Malaysia the KLCI fell 16 points (1.3%) to 1,191.5.

There were 189 gainers against 855 losers while KFC was up 45sen, SunCity (-44sen), GPacket (-36sen).

Earelier the KLCI plunged 63.7 points or 5.2% to 1,143.9, much of it after the 2.30pm break.

DiGi was down (-RM1.30), KLK (-RM1.10), CIMB (-90sen)

About an hour earlier the KLCI lost 57.21 points or 4.47% to stand at 1150.4.

At midday it had slid 30.13 points (2.5%) to 1,177.48 with 846 million shares traded.

Losers led gainers 1,007 to 44 with 101 counters unchanged.

The local bourse opened down 3.20 points at 1,204.41 on continuous selling offsetting light bargain hunting activity


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Japanese stocks fell more than 5 percent Friday to a one-year low as the dollar's sharp drop against the yen fueled concerns about earnings outlooks in a market already hurt by the U.S. housing loan crisis.

The Nikkei 225 closed down 874.81 points, or 5.42 percent, at 15,273.68 points, hitting its lowest level since Aug. 7, 2006, when the index finished at 15,154.06.

Friday's decline was the largest since April 17, 2000 in terms of points.

The dollar's sharp decline against the yen was the main blow to the market Friday, sending exporter issues tumbling, traders said.

The dollar was trading at 112.42 yen at 2:50 p.m. (0550 GMT, 1350pm Malaysian time), down from 113.11 yen late Thursday in New York.


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China's shares fell for a second day Friday amid a global selloff prompted by fears about U.S. mortgages.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 2.3 percent at 4656.57 points, adding to a 2.1 percent loss the previous day.

The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 1.6 percent to 1297.21.

Chinese investors are worried about the impact of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, even though China's markets are kept isolated from global financial flows, analysts said.

Philippine shares closed Friday at this year's new low, with lingering concerns that U.S. shares may fall further eroding early gains.

The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index shed another 55.97 points, or 2 percent, to finish at 2,884.34, it's lowest level since December 27.

Friday losers swamped gainers 109 to 21, with 25 issues unchanged

Thursday, the market fell 6 percent, wiping out all gains so far this year.

This week's index is off 12 percent from the end of last week.

"Definitely, this selling is exaggerated,'' said Ricardo Puig, analyst at Wealth Securities.

"But who can argue with market sentiment?''

He said the underlying fundamentals are calling for a more rational view on stocks.

South Korean shares extended losses Friday following a record point drop the previous session as foreign investors sold heavily amid further sharp falls in regional markets.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 53.91 points, or 3.2 percent, to close at 1,638.07, its lowest finish since May 21.

The decline followed Thursday's plunge in which the Kospi fell 6.9 percent to record its worst ever single day point drop amid global credit worries initiated by defaults on U.S. subprime mortgage loans.

The index had opened higher, rising as much as 0.8 percent, after U.S. markets came in mixed overnight, but was unable to maintain the momentum.

In New Zealand the share market fell for a sixth consecutive session, with the benchmark NZX-50 index off 63.6 points, or 1.6%, to 3894.34 after a rush of selling in the last hour of trading.

The market managed to stave off another sharp sell down as it opened, likely helped by a late recovery in U.S. stocks overnight.

But it fell again late in the day.

ABN Amro adviser Matt Willis said investors are looking for evidence of earnings strength after a tumultuous week, but he expects next week is likely to prove just as volatile.

"The volatility in the last few days is the result of investors being very unsure of what the earnings impact will be,'' Willis said.

In Hong Kong the blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 1.4 percent. The Index was down 3.0 percent at midday.

Taiwan shares fell Friday to their lowest level in three months, as other Asian bourses extended their selloffs.

The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange dropped 111.08 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 8,090.29 points.

During the volatile session, shares dropped as low as 7989.61 before rebounding on bargain hunting.

Cecelia Lu of Taiwan International Securities said institutional buyers provided support for shares despite weak market sentiment.

On Thursday (Friday morning in Malaysia) Wall Street pulled off a dramatic late-session turnaround to close mixed after bargain hunters lured by weeks of massive declines came back to the stock market.

The Dow fell 15.69, or 0.12 percent, to 12,845.78.

The S&P rose 4.56, or 0.32 percent, to 1,411.26, and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 7.76, or 0.32 percent, to 2,451.07.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 17.29, or 2.30 percent, to 768.83


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Share prices on the London Stock Exchange closed sharply lower Thursday.

The FTSE 100-share index was down 250.4 points, or 4.1 percent, at 5,858.9.

The German DAX 30 index slid 2.4 percent to 7,270.07.

The French CAC-40 index fell 3.3 percent to 5,265.47.

The DAX hasn't traded at around these levels since April, while the CAC is around levels not seen since last December.

Earlier Friday, Japan's central bank injected 1.2 trillion yen (US$10.5 billion; euro7.8 billion) into money markets - the third injection this week and triple the amount it injected the day before - in a bid to curb rises in key interest rates.

Central banks in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan have injected tens of billions of dollars into money markets since Aug. 9 when stocks tumbled because of worries over U.S. subprime mortgage problems.

So, far the extra money, meant to ease concerns about a credit crunch, has been unable to halt a global sell-off.

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