Hang Seng down 6%

At 9:53 am (IST), Asian markets were trading lower but managed to recoup some of the losses.


Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 6.01% or 1232.06 points at 19,258.51.

Japan's Nikkei was down 3.69% or 335.84 points at 8,761.72.

South Korea's Seoul Composite slipped 6.75% or 126.15 points at 1,743.30.

Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted shed 1.18% or 89.28 points at 7,463.52

Asian markets trading higher; Shanghai up 2%

Asian markets were trading higher. China's Shanghai Composite rose 2.08% or 40.85 points at 2,006.27.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.54% or 209 points at 13,797.66.

Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.62% or 49.34 points at 8,053.44.

Singapore's Straits Times was up 1.97% or 32.36 points at 1,672.93.

South Korea's Seoul Composite added 0.30% or 3.03 points at 1,025.70.

Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was up 0.53% or 22.66 points at 4,329.92

Asian markets tumble; Hang Seng slips 6%

Asian markets were trading lower. China's Shanghai Composite fell 2.73% or 48.07 points at 1,712.54.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 5.95% or 882.48 points at 13,957.68.
Japan's Nikkei plunged 5.68% or 541.06 points at 8,980.18.
Singapore's Straits Times tumbled 4.69% or 87.65 points at 1,781.17.
South Korea's Seoul Composite lost 6.66% or 78.70 points at 1,102.80.
Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted declined 4.85% or 241.47 points at 4,736.7

Asian markets end mixed

The stock markets across the Asian region closed mixed ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Taking a cue from Wall Street where the stocks finished the first day of the week on a mixed note as investors looked past a weak reading on the manufacturing sector and focused on the election. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 5.2 points to 9,319.8, and the broader S&P 500 index fell 2.5 points to 966, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 5.4 points to 1,726.

In the commodity market, crude oil extended its losses on renewed recession concerns. Light, sweet crude for December delivery dropped 33 cents to $63.58 a barrel by 02:08 a.m. ET after the contract plunged $3.9 to settle at $63.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. Brent crude oil for December settlement on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange fell as much as $2.10, or 3.5 percent, to $58.38 a barrel. That's the lowest since Feb. 20, 2007. It traded at $58.91 at 9:25 a.m. London time.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar strengthened against most major Asian currencies.

Against yen the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 98-yen levels in late Tokyo deals. The dollar was quoted at 98.92- 98.96 yen, up 1.92 yen from Friday's close in Tokyo.

The Australian dollar closed weaker after a larger-than-expected interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia. The Aussie finished the session at US$0.6651-0.6655, down 2.5% from Monday's close of US$0.6823-0.6828.

The South Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar. The won ended the domestic session at 1,288.0 a dollar compared to Monday's close of 1,262.0 a dollar. China's yuan traded at 6.8365 to the U.S. dollar in over-the-counter trading, up from yesterday's close of 6.8380.

Coming back in equities, Japanese stocks surged after the market remained closed for a holiday on Monday, but the Australian market closed slightly lower after the nation's central bank cut interest rates.

The Japanese stock market closed sharply higher after an extended weekend, rebounding after Friday's 5% plunge. The Japanese markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday. A weaker yen and reports of a possible takeover of struggling electronics maker Sanyo by its bigger rival Panasonic boosted investor sentiment. The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average closed up 537.6 points or 6.3% at a two-week high of 9,114.6. The broader Topix index of all first-section issues gained 43.6 points or 5.0% to 910.7.

On the economic front, total cash earnings in Japan inched higher by 0.1% on year in September, but remained flat compared to August. Contractual cash earnings rose 0.1%, while scheduled earnings climbed 0.4%, while non-scheduled earnings fell 3.3%. Cash earnings for the third quarter were also up 0.1% on year following a 0.7% annual expansion in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the Japan Automobile Dealers' Association said that Japan's auto sales continued to decline for the third straight month in October as unfavorable and uncertain economic conditions reduced purchasing power. Auto sales dropped by a sharp 13.1% year-over-year in October, compared to a 5.3% fall recorded in September. With the fall in October, vehicle sales slipped for the third consecutive month. In August, vehicle sales had fallen 14.9%.

The Chinese stock market closed lower for the third consecutive day as worries about an economic slowdown weighed on investor sentiment. The benchmark Shanghai composite index lost 13.01 points or 0.76% to close 26-month low of 1,706.70.

On the economic front, the output value of China's construction industry in the first nine months of this year totaled 3.76 trillion yuan, up 22.9% from that for the same period of last year, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index reversed declines to end 0.3% higher at 14,384.34. The Hang Seng China Enterprise Index gained 0.80% to end at 6,860.88.

The Australian stock market finished slightly lower, ending a four-day winning streak. Market losses were trimmed by gains in banks and financials after the Australian central bank cut interest rates by 75 basis points to 5.25%. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 6.4 points, or 0.2%, at 4,215.1 and the broader All Ordinaries index shed 3.2 points, or 0.1%, to 4,169.8.

The Reserve Bank of Australia cut its cash rate by a 0.75% to 5.25%, citing the effects of the global slowdown, falling commodity prices and a likely downturn in domestic spending.

On the economic front, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia data showed that the business confidence index tumbled in the third quarter ended September to 29.9 from 33.8 in the second quarter, and 51.3 in the year-ago quarter.

In New Zealand, the benchmark NZX 50 began the day with a small rise, but descended by 12.35 points or 0.43% to close the day at 2844.31 points.

In South Korea, the stock market closed sharply higher, extending its gains for the fourth consecutive trading session, as the government's recent economic stimulus measures boosted investor sentiment. After a volatile trading session, the benchmark Korea composite stock price index or Kospi closed up 24.3 points or 2.2% at 1,153.4.

The market closed higher for the fourth day after the central bank announced a $30 billion currency swap deal with the U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday. Yesterday, the Finance Ministry unveiled a sweeping economic stimulus package worth 14 trillion won, which includes a 10 trillion won budget increase for next year and diverse deregulatory moves for the slumping construction sector. The package came in addition to 19 trillion won worth of tax cuts unveiled earlier, bringing the total for economic relief measures to 33 trillion won.

On the economic front, South Korea's foreign exchange reserves recorded their steepest monthly fall since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis in October, mainly due to an increased liquidity supply meant to ease financial jitters, according to the central bank. The nation's foreign reserves stood at US$212.3 billion as of the end of October, down US$27.4 billion from a month earlier, marking the seventh straight month of decline.

Asian Markets in Negative

Nikkei 225 9,348.47 -99.10 -1.05%

Hang Seng 16,401.26 -431.62 -2.56%

Straits Times 2,087.49 -40.82 -1.92%

Asian markets tumble on heels of Wall Street sell-off

TOKYO (AP) -- Stock markets across Asia posted sharp losses in early trading Friday on the heels of a steep sell-off on Wall Street.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 974.12 points, or 10.64 percent, to close the morning session at 8,183.37. At one point in the frantic morning trading, the index shed 11.4 percent.






"We are seeing a meltdown in the world stock market due to growing fears over a global recession," said Kazuhiro Takahashi, general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. Ltd.

The sell-off in Asian markets comes after the Dow Jones industrial average Thursday dropped a staggering 679 points, or 7.3 percent, to close below the 9,000-line for the first time in five years.

In Seoul, South Korea, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 7.1 percent, or 92.05 points, to 1,202.84 after the first hour of trading. At one point the Kospi fell as much as 9 percent.

Hong Kong's blue chip Hang Seng index was down 7.6 percent, or 1,211.48 points, at 14,731.76 minutes after trading started. The index rose 3.3 percent on Thursday.

In active trading at midday, the Australian benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 256.8 points, or 5.94 per cent, to 4064.1, after earlier falling 7.1 percent.

Lucinda Chan, associate director of Macquarie Equities in Sydney, called the market moves "ghastly."

"It is a very different and very unprecedented climate at the moment," she said. "Growth is going to be a major concern in this market and that is why the Australian market is getting a very hard pinch, because we are a commodity export nation."

New Zealand's benchmark NZX-50 index fell 3.52 percent in its first four hours of trading Friday, hitting its lowest level since November 2004 as the market notched up its sixth successive day of losses.




Meanwhile, the president of the Indonesian stock exchange said trading will be suspended indefinitely "to prevent deeper panic," after another huge drop on Wall Street.

Indonesian authorities had planned to reopen the market Friday morning after a suspension was imposed Wednesday.

Panic over financial system knocks Asia stocks

Panic about how the U.S. and European governments have not yet found a solution to the plague sweeping through the global financial system hit Asian stocks again on Tuesday and lifted gold prices.



The South Korean won dropped 5.7 percent to the lowest in more than 7 years against the U.S. dollar as investors focused on the country's relatively high level of debts, despite assurances from the government that Asia's fourth-largest economy was not facing a currency crisis.

The $700 billion U.S. rescue fund, ad hoc measures by European governments and massive injections of funds by central banks around the world have not been able to stop confidence in the financial system from evaporating or growing fears the global economy is on path to recession.

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at a 4-year low after dipping below 10,000 points for the first time since October 2004.

The fury with which global equity markets have sold off in recent weeks and the worsening condition of the financial system has made the upcoming Group of Seven rich nations meeting even more important. Investors have begun to anticipate some kind of cooperation among countries to solve the morasse.

"The key issue is coordination of policies, since individual country policies aimed at shoring up confidence of domestic institutions can actually exacerbate systemic risk by altering relative risk between countries," said Ashley Davies, currency strategist with UBS in Singapore. "As such, a coordinated global approach by the major financial powers may be critical to containing the destructive aspects of global deleveraging," he said in a note.

The Nikkei was down 2.8 percent after earlier slipping to its lowest since December 2003. Shares of high-profile exporters Canon Inc and Honda Motor Co were among the biggest drags on the index.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index slid 2.1 percent to a 3-year low.

South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.9 percent after closing at the lowest in 21 months on Monday.

The country's regulator said it was considering steps to reduce volatility in the equity market, helping to stem some of the day's losses.

The MSCI All-Country world stocks index closed at a four-year low on Monday, having dropped by a third so far this year.

In other markets, dealers picked up the pieces a day after the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility index, better known as the VIX, vaulted to a record high of 58.24 as investors scrambled to buy protection against plummeting global stock markets.

"At this point, all we can do is to wait and see how effective the U.S. financial rescue plan or any other coordinated government efforts will be in thawing global capital markets," said Lee Kyoung-su, a market analyst at Taurus Investment & Securities in Seoul.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield, which moves in the opposite direction of the price, ticked up to 3.49 percent after dropping to 3.46 percent late on Monday in New York. It was still down sharply from 3.60 percent late last week, reflecting the heavy demand for government debt as a relatively safe haven from market shockwaves.

Japanese 10-year government bond futures were down 0.6 point to 137.90 after rising for three straight days.

Frozen interbank lending markets and bank rescues remained a feature in the United States and Europe. But the bailout of two big European banks and a decision by several European governments to guarantee bank deposits in emergency moves in the last several days have done little to dispel intense waves of fear among investors.

After a massive surge on Monday, the yen edged up against the dollar and the euro but slipped against higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars.

The dollar dipped 0.4 percent against the Japanese currency to 101.44 yen, edging toward a six-month low of 100.22 yen hit on trading platform EBS the previous day.

The European single currency edged up 0.2 percent to $1.3531. The euro struck a 13-month low below $1.3450 on Monday, hit hard by a decision by leaders of Europe's four biggest economies against a coordinated bailout plan.

The euro slipped 0.2 percent to 137.24 yen.

Gold climbed in the spot market, up 0.7 percent to $863.50 an ounce after rocketing nearly 4 percent on Monday on a flight to anything resembling safety.