Most equities markets lower again

Permalink: Most equities markets lower again by Elaine Frei

Global equities markets were generally lower again on Monday, although the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up in midday trade on Wall Street.

Asian markets were substantially lower again. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong saw its biggest slide since October 2003 as it lost 4 percent to 18,664.88. The Straits Times index in Singapore was also down 4 percent, while the Taiwan weighted index dropped 3.7 percent. In India, the Sensex dropped 3.7 percent as well, losing 471.09 points to close at 12,415.04. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell 3.3 percent to 16,642.25. The Nikkei fell 340 points in the first fifteen minutes of the session and ultimately lost 575.68 points during the session. The Topix index dropped 3.4 percent to 1,662.71. The Mothers market of small and mid-caps was 7.4 percent lower to 988.14, its lowest close ever.

In Europe, markets were also down although not as steeply as the Asian markets fell. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.16 percent to 1.446.30. In Frankfurt, the Dax fell 1.04 percent to 6,534.57, while the CAC 40 was 0.73 percent lower to 5,385.03. The steel, telecommunications and aerospace sectors were all lower.

London also saw more moderate declines, although the FTSE 250 fell 1.7 percent, or 188 points, to 10,857.9. The FTSE 100 fell below the 6,000 level for the first time since October but recovered to close at 6,058.7, a decline of 0.9 percent. Miners and the oil sector were both lower on price declines for commodities, but banks were mixed.

At midday on Wall Street, the Dow was 0.03 percent higher to 12,117.14 after a morning which saw it go 75 points higher and 75 points lower in volatile trading. The Nasdaq Composite was 0.44 percent lower to 2,357.54, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.3 percent to 1,383.03. The Russell 2000 index of small and mid-caps fell 0.07 percent to 767.9. A speech by St. Louis Federal Reserve president William Poole, in which he said as Fed chairman Ben Bernanke had earlier, that the recent declines in the market do not reflect the outlook for the US economy. The subprime mortgage sector was lower after New Century Financial (NYSE: NEW) lost 60 percent of its share value after it said that it is under investigation by the NYSE and a federal prosecutor.

Oil prices were down significantly at midday in New York. Brent crude April contracts were down $1.86 to $60.22 per barrel in London, while West Texas Intermediate for April delivery fell $1.82 to $59.82 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The declines are attributed to global stock market declines as well as comments from Qatar’s oil minister that OPEC will likely not schedule further production cuts when it meets later in the month. Heating oil and gasoline futures were each around 5 cents cheaper, while natural gas added almost 3 cents. Prices for both precious and base metals were also lower.

Among currencies, the Japanese yen strengthened again, hitting a 12-week high versus the US dollar before declining slightly but still hanging on to higher levels against both the greenback and the euro. The US dollar was higher in relation to the euro and sterling even though the US services sector did not grow as much as it was expected to in February.