- Manila Standard Today -- Asian, Euro stocks plunge -- june14_2006 

- Manila Standard Today -- Asian, Euro stocks plunge -- june14_2006

HONG KONG'Renewed worries over the outlook for US interest rates sent Asian and European shares tumbling again yesterday. with the Japanese stock market posting its biggest fall since the Sept. 11. 2001 terrorist attacks.
South Korean shares dropped 2.9 percent to a seven-month low. while Australian stocks sank 2.6 percent. their biggest one-day fall since September 2001.
Asian markets. which until early May had been among the world's star performers this year. had suffered a similar sell-off last Thursday. also on concern that higher US rates would trigger a global slowdown.
European stocks skidded to their lowest in more than six months on Tuesday. tracking a sell-off in global equity markets. as concerns about interest rates and economic growth continue to gnaw at investor sentiment.
Mining stocks dragged the market lower as base metals prices retreated. while Europe's technology stocks weighed heavily as they slid on the heels of their global peers.
The market tumbled before the closing bell into a selling frenzy first set off by another fall on Wall Street overnight due to anxiety about the outlook for US inflation and so interest rates. they said.
With investors on the defensive from the opening. sentiment was further hit by Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui's surprise admission that he had invested in the fund of Yoshiaki Murakami. who was arrested last week on charges of insider trading.
It was the biggest single fall since Sept. 12. 2001 when the market shed 682.85 points in the wake of the terrorist attacks against the United States.
Traders in Tokyo said stocks faced heavy selling due to market speculation that US Federal Reserve might raise interest rates further. stoking fears that the US economy may slow down and hurting Japanese exporters. A decline overnight on Wall Street also hurt sentiment.
'Wall Street is expecting a blood bath for inflation figures. and that's spooking foreign investors in Japan who are selling their most liquid holdings. as they price this in. head of equity trading at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in Tokyo.
The European markets were set to remain under water ahead of key US May producer price data at 1230 GMT. which investors hoped would provide some clues for the outlook on U.S. interest rates.





stock investing