Monday October 22, 08:28 PM
Asian stocks sink on US worries
|
|
By Reuters
The dollar slumped to a record low and Asian stocks suffered their biggest fall in two months on Monday after weak US corporate results renewed concerns about a housing market slump damaging the world's largest economy. Investors in Europe were also in a negative mood, with stock futures and financial bookmakers pointing to sharp opening declines for Britain's FTSE 100, the German Dax and the French CAC 40. But flight to safety boosted government debt, driving the 10-year yield for Japanese bonds to a one-month low and helping gold claw off the session trough to within easy reach of a 28-year high set Friday. Traders said shares took their cue from Wall Street, which notched up its biggest fall in two months on Friday, a slide made more unnerving as it marked the 20th anniversary of 'Black Monday', the 1987 stock market crash. The dollar was also sold after the tumble in U.S. stocks and following the Group of Seven's apparent indifference over the weakness of the currency. The finance ministers and central bank heads of the G7 countries met in Washington on Friday. "The G7's statement effectively gives a green light to continue selling the dollar," Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon, said over the weekend. At 0618 GMT, MSCI's measure of Asia Pacific stocks excluding Japan had lost 2.3 percent, its steepest fall since Aug. 16, while Tokyo's Nikkei fell 2.2 percent to a four-week closing low.
|
