Dow closes below 13,000

New York markets ended the day lower as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below the 13,000 level for the first time since August 16. The Dow dropped 0.42 percent to 12,987.55. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite ended with even bigger percentage losses, with the Nasdaq down 1.67 percent to 2,584.13 and the S&P falling 1 percent to 1,439.18.

Markets were mixed in Europe on Monday. Most made gains but the Dax dropped 0.07 percent to 7,806.84 in Frankfurt. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.03 percent to 1,512.05. The Paris CAC-40 gained 0.21 percent to 5,535.56 while the IBEX added 0.28 percent to 15,774.7 in Madrid. London’s markets were higher on the session, with the FTSE 100 0.52 percent higher to 6,337.9 and FTSE 250 climbing 0.32 percent to 10,894.3.

Asia-Pacific region equities markets were down Monday on the expectation that banks will report further losses due to exposure to the US subprime mortgage crisis. The biggest loss among major indices came in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng dropped 3.88 percent to 27,665.73. Elsewhere the Sensex dropped 0.9 percent to 18,737.27, dropping 170 points on the session but recovering from being as low as 18,333.21 earlier. In Australia the Sydney Ordinaries fell 1.27 percent to 6,523.3 while the S&P/ASX200 was down 1.38 percent to 6,455.3. The Shanghai Composite was 2.4 percent lower to 5,187.74 while the Straits Times index in Singapore dropped 2.46 percent to 3,511.12. Taiwan’s Taiex index was down 3.35 percent to 8,670.61 and the Kospi index in South Korea was 3.37 percent lower to 1,923.42.

In Tokyo both the Nikkei 225 and Topix indices fell to their lowest levels since mid-2006. The Nikkei dropped 2.48 percent to 15,197.09 and the Topix was down 2.54 percent to 1,456.4.

Crude oil, metals and grains prices were all lower, while meat and livestock futures were mixed.

The yen strengthened on a retreat from risk while the pound was weaker.

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