Asian stock markets in turmoil - August 8, 2011
The damage is limited. After the first weekend after the degradation of the sovereign rating of the United States by Standard's and Poor's, the world was afraid to wake up on Monday on a stock market crash. Certainly, Asian stock markets, first to start the week and give the trend, showing all this morning a marked decline of more than 2%. But the risk of a crash seems for the moment excluded.
In Tokyo, after opening down 1.40%, the Nikkei 225 for blue chips ended down 2.18% to 9097.56 points.La statement last night, the Japanese Minister of Finance Yoshihiko Noda, who has maintained confidence in the U.S. Treasury, was not enough to allay the concerns of investors. The Minister emphasized the mobilization of the European central bankers, a sign of awareness on the efforts to be undertaken.
More than 48 hours after the announcement that shook the world's largest economy, Asian investors have been partially sensitive to the political mobilization of the weekend, both of European leaders, who called for the adoption by the end of September the bailout of Greece on 21 July. But also that of the ECB, on Sunday night discussed a possible acquisition of Italian and Spanish debt, and the White House, which yesterday called for unity among Democrats and Republicans.
The yen is rebounding
Still, if the announcement of the degradation of the United States was somewhat expected in Asia, the timing chosen by Standard & Poor's has caught the markets, even after a weekend of reflection, continuing their descent into hell.In this context of concern about the state of European and American finance, the yen has tended to take some strength vis-à-vis the dollar and euro saving account payday loan. Around 4 o'clock, Paris time, the dollar was worth around 78.05 yen and the euro hovered on the other hand around 111.90 yen, the two displayed small decline vis-à-vis the Japanese currency. A phenomenon still unfavorable export values.
Other major Asian markets show a stronger decline in Tokyo. China, which was very critical this weekend against the failure of U.S. lawmakers to find a long-term solution to their debt problems, the tooth was also harder on the markets: the Hang Seng Hong Kong picks up 4.12% on Monday morning at 20,082.80 points while the Chinese CSI 300 lost 3.51% to 2795.64 points.Beijing is by far the largest holder of U.S. debt in the world with 1.16 trillion dollars of U.S. Treasury bills in the drawers.
Elsewhere in Asia, all places show a sharp decline. The KRX South Korean loose 3.45% to 7581.86 points, while the S & P / ASX 200 Australian loses 2.14% to 4017.60 points. A Bonbay, the BSE Sensex was down 2.60% to 16,855.60 points. Finally in Singapore, the FTSE Straits shows the largest decline (-4.14%) to 2870.92 points.
Oil continues to tumble
Moreover, in this context very uncertain about the strength of economic recovery, oil prices continued their steep decline on Monday morning in electronic trading in Asia. A barrel of "light sweet crude" for September delivery lost 2.59 dollars to 84.29 dollars.That of Brent North Sea crude for September delivery fell by 2.48 dollars to 106.89 dollars.
At the same time, gold has gone through the roof of 1700 dollars to 1704 dollars an ounce on the market in Hong Kong.