Asian stocks mostly fell on Thursday after financial markets in the US and Europe saw fresh volatility on Wednesday, despite equity rallies, as investors absorbed further dire economic reports and braced for a series of interest rate decisions. Weak US and European data heightened fears about global recession and was capped in the US by the Fed’s Beige Book survey showing economic activity softened further across the country. On Thursday came news that Japanese businesses cut investment at the fastest pace in six years last quarter. China stocks however surged on a report that the government may inject more funds into the nation’s largest banks.
Asian markets (Thurs)
05:20am GMT
Nikkei down 86.83 (-1.08%) at 7,917.27
Topix down 12.26 (-1.53%) at 786.93
Hang Seng up 91.16 (+0.67%) at 13,679.82
US markets (Wed)
DJIA up 172.00 (+2.05%) at 8,591.69
Nasdaq up 42.58 (+2.94%) at 1,492.38
S&P500 up 21.93 (+2.58%) at 870.74
European markets (Wed)
FTSE100 up 47.10 (+1.14%) at 4,169.96
Eurofirst 300 up 4.58 (+0.55%) at 829.89
Currencies
05:21am GMT
€/$ 1.2667 (1.2701)
$/¥ 93.02 (93.16)
£/$ 1.4718 (1.4887)
Commodities (updated)
05:23am GMT
Brent Crude (Jan09) down 1.34 at 44.10
Light Crude (Jan09) down 1.15 at 45.64
100 Oz Gold (Feb09) down 8.50 at 770.70
3M 24HR Copper down 10.00 at 3,410.00
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.62 (2.71)
UK 3.43 (3.48)
Germany 3.05 (3.05)
Japan 1.38 (1.38)
Sources: FT, Reuters