Bombings don’t hurt Mumbai markets

The train bombings in Mumbai on Tuesday seemed not to have had much effect on Indian equities markets, at least in the short term, after the nation’s finance minister said that the bombings would not harm the economy there. The BSE Sensex index was up 3 percent Wednesday to 10,930.09.

Elsewhere in Asia, however, some equities markets declined, primarily due to worries about the news in corporate earnings reports. While the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added 0.2 percent to 16,522.21 as resources stocks climbed as commodity prices rose, the weighted index in Taipei fell 0.1 percent to 6,634.09 and the Kopsi index in Seoul declined by 0.3 percent to 1,296.69.

In Tokyo, the equities markets were substantially lower, mostly on anticipation of an expected move later in the week by the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates above zero for the first time in six years. The Nikkei 225 dropped 1.5 percent to 15,249.32. Meanwhile, the Topix index fell 1.4 percent to 1,563.69.

Consumer finance companies saw huge losses as concerns continued about the lowered ceiling on allowable interest rates for their loans. Aiful dropped 7.2 percent to ¥4,870, while Takefuji declined by 7.6 percent to ¥5,840.

The real estate sector also saw significant declines, with the sector as a whole down by 2.7 percent. Mitsui Fudosan dropped 1.9 percent to ¥2,390, while Sumitomo Realty and Development fell 2.3 percent to ¥2,735 and Mitsubishi Estate declined by 3 percent to ¥2,295.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Bombings don’t hurt Mumbai markets