Asian stocks fell Wednesday, led by banks and commodity companies, while Treasury yields fell, oil declined and safe-haven currencies rose amid doubts that the proposed US bank rescue will revive credit markets and the US economy. Futures on the S&P500 Index added 0.2% after the gauge slumped 4.9% Tuesday after US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner pledged up to $2,000bn for programmes to spur lending and address banks’ toxic assets.
Asian markets (Wed – Japan closed)
05:10am GMT
Nikkei (Tues) down 23.09 (-0.29%) to 7,945.94
Topix (Tues) down 0.80 (-0.10%) 778.10
Hang Seng: (Wed) down 44.89 (-3.19%) at 13,437.75
US markets (Tues)
DJIA down 381.99 (-4.62%) at 7,888.88
Nasdaq down 66.83 (-4.20%) at 1,524.73
S&P500 down 42.73 (-4.91%) at 827.16
European markets (Tues)
FTSE100 down 94.53 (-2.19%) at 4,213.08
Eurofirst 300 down 24.14 (-2.91%) at 805.94
Currencies
05:08 GMT
€/$ 1.2896 (1.2821)
$/¥ 90.37 (91.25)
£/$ 1.4511 (1.4818)
Commodities
05:08 GMT
Brent Crude (Mar09) up $0.49 at $45.10
Light Crude (Mar09) up $0.58 at $38.13
100 Oz Gold (Feb09) down $1.00 at $913.20
Copper (Mar09) down $25.00 at $3,450.00
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 2.82 (2.98)
UK 3.65 (3.75)
Germany 3.31 (3.40)
Japan 1.30 (1.30)
Sources: FT, Reuters