Asian stocks followed US and European markets down on Tuesday, sending the benchmark index down the most in a month, as falling metal and oil prices dragged on commodity producers and a higher yen dimmed profit outlooks for Japanese exporters of cars and electronics. A report that Sony is set to announce a big loss for 2008/09 also weighed on Asian stocks.
Asian markets (Tues)
05:27am GMT
Nikkei (Fri) down 382.62 (-4.33%) to 8,454.18
Topix (Fri) down 37.29 (-4.36%) to 817.73
Hang Seng (Mon) up 9.91 (+0.50%) at 13,980.91
US markets (Mon)
DJIA down 125.21 (-1.46%) at 8,473.97
Nasdaq down 32.80 (-2.09%) at 1,538.79
S&P500 down 20.09 (-2.26%) at 870.26
European markets (Mon)
FTSE100 down 22.35 (-0.50%) at 4,426.19
Eurofirst 300 down 13.73 (-1.58%) at 853.22
Currencies
05:30GMT
€/$ 1.3317 (1.3376)
$/¥ 89.32 (9-.16)
£/$ 1.4768 (1.5082)
Commodities
05:30 GMT
Brent Crude (Feb09) down $0.44 at $42.72
Light Crude (Feb09) down $0.52 at $37.07
100 Oz Gold (Feb09) up $4.70 at $825.70
3M 24HR Copper up $50.00 at $3,275
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.32 (2.40)
UK 3.14 (3.13)
Germany 2.98 (3.01)
Japan 1.24 (1.30)
Sources: FT, Reuters