Asian stocks slumped on Thursday, pushing Japan’s Nikkei to 8-month lows and South Korea’s Kospi down more than 7 per cent, while the yen surged nearly 0.5 per cent overnight against the dollar to Y115.71 as appetite for risky assets waned amid persistent fears about a global credit squeeze. Amid continuing credit anxieties, some central banks in the region stepped in again to reassure credit markets, reports Reuters. Australia added $2.5bn in cash to the banking system while the Bank of Japan injected Y400bn ($3.45bn) into the Tokyo money market. Meanwhile, reports Bloomberg, the NZ and Australian dollars slid amid what the FT says is a sharp unwinding of the yen carry trade.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 5:43 and is filed under Capital markets. Edit this entry.