G-7 report hurts equities markets

Asia-Pacific equities markets were lower Monday after a pessimistic report from the weekend meeting of the G-7 nations in Washington, D.C., over the weekend.

The meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the United States, the UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, and Canada issued a statement saying that any recession in the United States will hurt economic growth globally.

The main exception to Asian losses was in India, where the Sensex added 0.72 percent to 15,807.64.

The Taiex dropped 0.19 percent to 8,892.68 in Taiwan while in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries fell 1.71 percent to 5,410.9 and the S&P/ASX200 was down 1.78 percent to 5,342.4.

South Korea’s Kospi was 1.85 percent lower to 1,746.71, the Straits Times Index fell 2.68 percent to 3,042.96, the Hang Seng was down 3.47 percent to 23,811.2 and the Shanghai Composite dropped 5.62 percent to 3,296.67.

Tokyo’s markets were also lower as the Nikkei 225 fell 3.05 percent to 12,917.51, the Topix index was down 2.53 percent to 1,246.24 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps dropped 0.93 percent to 588.63.

The electronics sector declined on broker downgrades in the sector and as the yen strengthened, while banks dropped on losses after gains had been predicted.

There were also declines among mobile phone operators.

Europe’s equities markets were down on disappointing reports and on G-7 sentiment.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.76 percent to 1,275 while the CAC-40 was 0.66 percent lower to 4,766.49, the Dax fell 0.74 percent to 6,554.49 and the IBEX dropped 0.89 percent to 13,160.3.

Gainers included stock exchange operators, the steel sector and food processors, while airlines, carmakers, banks, and the semiconductors sector all saw declines.

London’s markets also declined, with the FTSE 100 down 1.08 percent to 5,831.6 and the FTSE 250 dropping 0.86 percent to 9,845.5.

Food and beverage makers, the leisure sector, retailers, and real estate developers were all mixed, while most miners were lower and airlines declined on broker downgrades in the sector.

Wall Street was slightly lower in mid-afternoon trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.1 percent to 12,313.13 while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.29 percent to 2,283.51 and the S&P 500 was 0.24 percent lower to 1,329.59.

Banks were lower after a disappointing first quarter report from within the sector and on negative broker comments, but computer makers were up on a raised target share price in the sector and on positive broker comments and airlines gained on merger talk.

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