Hang Seng drops over 1,000 points on session

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. Game console makers, automobile manufacturers, construction machinery groups and banks were lower, while the consumer finance sector saw gains.

European markets were lower as well as subprime concerns reemerge after the comments from the G7 summit. 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. Car and truck makers as well as airlines were higher on the session. On the other hand, the steel sector, builders, and the pharmaceuticals sector were all lower.

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.
Energy generators, banks, miners and the oil sector dropped on the day, while retailers and cruise line operators were higher.

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. Home builders saw gins on the day, but the pharmaceuticals sector was mixed on quarterly results.

Story link: Hang Seng drops over 1,000 points on session