Monday, October 27, 2008

GLOBAL SHARES CONTINUE TO SLIDE!

European markets have opened sharply lower following hefty falls in Asia that saw Japan's Nikkei index falling 6.4% to its lowest close since 1982.
The FTSE 100 in London was trading down 4.6%, the Cac 40 in Paris fell 5.7% and the Dax in Frankfurt lost 4.1%.
It follows hefty falls on Friday with investors continuing to fret about the depth of the global slowdown.
The Japanese yen stayed near its 13-year high against the US dollar, despite threats of G7 intervention.

In other market news:
In the Philippines, the main index fell 12.3%, as the country's second biggest bank Banco de Oro Unibank reported a loss of 1.3bn pesos ($26.8m; £16.8m) because of its exposure to the US investment bank Lehman Brothers
The Seoul market reversed early losses to close up 0.8% after South Korea's central bank cut its key interest rate from 5% to 4.25% at a rare, unscheduled meeting
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng closed down 12.7% in its biggest single-day fall since 1991
Chinese shares also fell, with the Shanghai Composite Index losing 6.3% to its lowest level since September 2006
India's Sensex index dropped 6.1% to its lowest level since November 2005.
"There is more pain left. The global turmoil does not appear to be resolving soon," said Atul Mehra at the brokerage J M Financial in Mumbai.

Earlier on Monday the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations issued a statement warning that the strength of the yen was a threat to economic stability, which was taken as a threat of co-ordinated action to reduce the value of the currency.
While the yen briefly weakened, it soon climbed back towards Friday's 13-year high against the dollar.
The yen has been strengthening as a result of the end of the carry trade, in which traders borrowed the Japanese currency and used it to buy currencies with higher interest rates.
As the difference between Japanese rates and those elsewhere in the world has fallen, traders have been unwinding the carry trade, which means they have been using other currencies to buy yen, which has boosted the Japanese currency.
In other currency news, the Australian government intervened for a second time to support its currency, which was trading at a 5-year low against the US dollar. One US dollar was worth 0.6122 Australian dollars.
The Australian central bank last intervened more than a year ago and before that had not done so since 2001.
BBC NEWS REPORT.

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