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More bad news from the United States, in the form of published rumors that Merrill Lynch might report write downs of up to $15 billion, sent most Asia-Pacific region equities markets lower on Friday. There were exceptions to the declines, but they were few and far between. The Shanghai Composite added 0.52 percent to 5,484.68, while India’s Sensex was up 0.72 percent to 20,827.45, a gain of 245 points on the session.
In Taiwan, the Taiex was 0.35 percent lower to 8,029.31. The FTSE Straits Times Index was down 0.72 percent to 3,287.34 in Singapore while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index fell 1.34 percent to 26,867.01. Australia’s markets were also lower, with the Sydney Ordinaries dropping 1.51 percent to 6,054.4 and the S&P/ASX200 down 1.6 percent to 5,981.6. South Korea’s Kospi index was 2.33 percent lower to 1,782.27.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell to its lowest point in over two years as it fell 1.93 percent, or 277 points, to 14,110.79. The Topix index was down 1.7 percent to 1,377.58 and the Mothers index of small and mid-caps dropped 5.75 percent to 703.39. Banks, retailers, and shippers were all lower on the session.
Europe’s markets were mixed but mostly lower on the session. The FTSE Eurofirst 300was down 0.48 percent to 1,429.83. In Madrid the IBEX was 0.45 percent lower to 14,458 and the Paris CAC-40 dropped 0.54 percent to 5,371.41 but Frankfurt’s Dax added 0.06 percent to 7,717.95. Banks, airlines, and some car and truck makers were higher on the session, while utilities, the semiconductors sector and cosmetics manufacturers all saw declines.
London’s markets also ended the day mixed. The FTSE 100 was down 0.33 percent to 6,202 but the FTSE 250 added 0.3 percent to 9,829.8. Banks, insurers and retailers were mostly higher. On the other hand the oil sector was mixed but mostly lower.
Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 170 points, or 1.35 percent, to 12,679.22 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.27 percent to 2,456.91 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.72 percent to 1,410.05. The declines came ahead of quarterly reports due next week from several big banks and on reports that there could be big write downs linked to exposure to subprime mortgages. Still some banks saw gains on the session, while others were lower. Mortgage lenders also saw declines after purchase rumors were confirmed.
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