Many global equities markets see declines

European markets were lower on Monday as the subprime crisis continued to cause disturbances. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.32 percent to 1,487.28. In Frankfurt, the Dax was 0.24 percent lower to 7,479.83, while Madrid’s IBEX fell 1.18 percent to 13,696.9 and the Paris CAC-40 was down 1.8 percent to 5,439.37. London’s equities markets saw substantial declines again. The FTSE 100 was 1.69 percent lower to 6,182.8 and the FTSE 250 dropped 1.91 percent to 10,745.3

Wall Street was lower in midday trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 percent to 13,389.36, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9 percent to 2,578.74 and the S&P 500 was 0.66 percent lower to 1,474.52.

Most equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower. The main exceptions were South Korea’s Kospi index, which added 0.09 percent to 1,871.68, and the Shanghai Composite with an advance of 2.06 percent to 5,421.39. The Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.51 percent to 6,283.7 and the S&P/ASX200 was 0.56 percent lower to 6,271.4. In India, the Sensex was down 0.64 percent to 15,504.43. The Hang Seng index fell 1.2 percent to 24,599.34 in Hong Kong, while in Taiwan the Taiex dropped 1.46 percent to 8,899.91. Singapore’s Straits Times index was 1.7 percent lower to 3,476.31. The Tokyo markets were closed for the observance of the Respect for the Aged Day holiday.

Crude oil prices were up during the day. Precious metals prices were higher, while base metals were mixed in London trade. Among agricultural commodities, grains were higher, while livestock futures dropped.

In late morning trade in London, sterling weakened as the banking crisis continued cause problems while the yen was helped as investors backed away from risky investments.

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