Asian stocks declined on Thursday, dragging the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to a three-week low, amid concern a rally since March had made stocks too expensive relative to earnings prospects. Futures on the S&P500 Index gained 0.4% after the gauge dropped 0.1% on Wednesday as S&P cut credit ratings on 18 banks.
Asian markets (Thurs)
03:10 BST
Nikkei down 177.37 (-1.80%) at 9,663.48
Topix down 15.80 (-1.71%) at 907.23
Hang Seng down 258.48 (-1.43%) at 17,826.12
US markets (Wed)
S&P500 down 1.265 (-0.14%) at 910.71
DJIA down 7.49 (-0.09%) at 8,497.18
Nasdaq up 11.88 (0.66%) at 1,808.06
European markets (Wed)
Eurofirst 300 down 16.65 (-1.93%) at 845.76
FTSE100 down 50.11 (-1.16%) at 4,278.46
Currencies
03:45 BST
€/$ 1.3946 (1.3824)
$/¥ 95.69 (96.37)
£/$ 1.6382 (1.6357)
Commodities
04:00 BST
Brent Crude (ICE) down $0.05 at $70.80
Light Crude (Nymex) up $0.16 at $71.19
100 Oz Gold (Comex) up $4.80 at $940.80
Copper (Comex) down$0.15 at $225.80
10-year government bond yields (%)
04:05 BST
US 3.68 (3.67)
UK 3.79 (3.91)
Germany 3.52 (3.53)
Japan 1.46 (1.48)
Sources: FT, Bloomberg