Equities markets on decline

Global equities markets were lower on Wednesday. In Asia and the Pacific, the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.66 percent to 5,913.3, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.78 percent to 19,553.87. Elsewhere in the region, the declines were even larger. The Straits Timex index in Singapore was 1.07 percent lower to 3,201.75 and in India the Sensex fell 1.83 percent to 12,884.34.

The declines weren’t quite as steep in Tokyo. The Nikkei as at 17,254.73 at the close, a drop of 0.6 percent, while the Topix index fell 0.7 percent to 1,711.06, mainly on new worries about the US economy and new strength in the yen. Among export-dependent sectors, those most hurt when the yen gains, electronics were lower, and carmakers did even worse. The consumer finance sector was helped out when it was reported that consumer lender Orient (TYO: 8585) will receive financial aid from Mizuho Corporate Bank, part of the Mizuho Financial Group (TYO: 8411; NYSE: MFG) and from broker Itochu (TYO: 8001).

In Europe, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 0.66 percent to 1,499.13. In Frankfurt, the Xetra Dax fell 0.6 percent to 6,816,89, while the CAC-40 was 0.62 percent lower, to 5,552.69. The declines came even though the oil sector saw gains. The banking sector, however, saw declines after ABN Amro (Euronext: AAV; NYSE: ABN) said that it would look at all options if negotiations with Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) do not produce a merger deal.

London saw declines as well. The FTSE 100 was 0.4 percent lower to 6,267.2 and the FTSE 250 dropped 0.5 percent to 11,582.7 on the session. Even so, the oil sector was higher on crude prices that have been sent skyrocketing by the current tensions between Iran and the West. Overnight, the price of oil was up by $5 per barrel on rumors - since denied - that Iran had fired a missile at a US military vessel in the Persian Gulf, and it was still trading at over $1 higher this morning. Retailers were mixed on the session.

Wall Street was lower at noon after new data showed that durable goods orders were not up as much as had been hoped in February. They were up only 2.5 percent, against an expected increase of 3.5 percent. Excluding transportation orders, there was actually a decline of 0.1 percent in orders, the fourth month out of the past five that there has been a decline. It didn’t help that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in testimony before the congressional Joint Economic Committee that recent inflation readings are still “uncomfortably high” even though core inflation grew only “modestly” in the last half of 2006. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.44 percent lower to 12,342.58, and was down by as much as 140 points at times during the morning. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.37 percent to 2,428.33, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.31 percent to 1,424.13. Home builders were lower again after Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) was reported to be under investigation by the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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