European markets drop on new concerns

European markets were lower Monday as subprime concerns reemerged. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.3 percent to 1,543.56 while Madrid’s IBEX fell by the same percentage to 15,327.8. The Dax fell 1.13 percent to 7,794.94 while the CAC-40 was 1.38 percent lower to 5,661.27. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 1.05 percent to 6,459.3 and the FTSE 250 dropped 1.07 percent to 11,177.9.

Wall Street was up in early afternoon trade after declines earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.17 percent to 13,545.43, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.81 percent to 2,747.17. And the S&P 500 was 0.23 percent higher to 1,504.04.

Almost all equities markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on Monday after comments from the weekend’s meeting of G7 countries that the global economy is slowing down and on Friday’s big losses on Wall Street. The main exception to the declines came in India, where the Sensex added 0.31 percent to 17,613.99. Australia’s markets dropped nearly 2 percent, with the S&P/ASX200 down 1.92 percent to 6,577.3 and the Sydney Ordinaries falling 1.95 percent to 6,592.1.

The Shanghai Composite was down 2.59 percent to 5,667.33, while Taiwan’s Taiex index dropped 2.61 percent to 9,360.63. In Singapore, the Straits Times index fell 2.81 percent to 3,642.64. South Korea’s Kospi index was down 3.36 percent to 1,903.81 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index lost over 1,000 points as it dropped 3.7 percent to 28,373.63. In Tokyo the Nikkei 225 fell 2.24 percent to 16,438.47 and the Topix index dropped 1.77 percent to 1,563.07, but the Mothers market of small and mid-caps managed a 1.04 percent gain to 911.42.

Crude oil and precious metals prices were lower in New York, while grain prices were mixed on the Chicago Board of Trade with wheat higher but corn and soybeans lower.

The US dollar was higher in relation to the euro.

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