Most Asia-Pacific equities lower on session

After significant gains in most equities markets on Monday, most Asia-Pacific region indices showed declines on Tuesday. There were exceptions. South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.24 percent to 1,859.79, while Tokyo’s markets were higher as the yen weakened in response to a weakening of the yen versus the US dollar. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.58 percent to 15,222.85 and the Topix index was up 0.8 percent to 1,478.78 while the Mothers market of small and mid-caps jumped 3.24 percent to 835.77. Banks were higher as were carmakers, while the steel sector and traders both saw declines.

Elsewhere, markets in the region were lower on the session. The S&P/ASX200 was down 0.6 percent to 6,432.7 and the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.61 percent to 6,493.6 in Australia. India’s Sensex fell 0.62 percent to 19,127.73. The Straits Times index was 1.34 percent lower to 3,372.64 in Singapore while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.51 percent to 27,210.21. In Taiwan the Taiex fell 1.79 percent to 8,375.76. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.97 percent to 4,861.11.

Europe’s markets were lower again. The pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.33 percent to 1,462.77. In Madrid, the IBEX was 0.1 percent lower to 15,315.6 while the Paris CAC-40 fell 0.44 percent to 5,434.17 and the Dax dropped 0.48 percent to 7,531.35. Banks were higher but car and truck makers, utilities, the steel sector and semiconductors manufacturers were all lower on worries about the possibility of a slowdown in the US economy.

In London, The FTSE 100 was 0.64 percent lower to 6,140.7 while the FTSE 250 was down 1.54 percent to 10,291.5. Banks and mortgage lenders made gains on the session. The oil and insurance sectors were mixed. The retail sector was mixed as well, but there were only a couple of gainers against a whole series of decliners. The mining sector was down on the session.

In mid-afternoon trade in New York, markets rebounded on the news that Abu Dhabi will invest in Citigroup (NYSE: C), providing an injection of over $7 billion in cash into the bank, which has taken serious losses related to the subprime mortgage crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.36 percent to 12,916.58 while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.01 percent to 2,566.63 and the S&P 500 gained 0.91 percent to 1,420.07. Banks saw gains on the hope that they would also be able to find capital injections similar to that of Citigroup. Office supply retailers were mixed while homebuilders were lower after a new report showed that home prices were down sharply in the third quarter.

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