Asian stock markets dip on blend of local, global edginess
Asian stock markets dip on blend of local, global edginess
TOKYO (AFP): Asian stock markets dipped Monday on Tokyo's fall
to a near 13-year low and in anticipation of a sell-off on Wall
Street over the impending release of US President Bill Clinton's
video-taped testimony in the White House sex scandal.
A faltering Japanese political deal to fix the banking sector
and chaos in Malaysia following the arrest of sacked deputy
premier Anwar Ibrahim cast a shadow on regional bourses.
The markets were hit by jitters over Friday's decision by the
House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee to release a
videotape of Clinton's grand jury testimony about his affair with
Monica Lewinsky, along with 2,800 pages of evidence.
Tokyo shares fell 2.8 percent to a near 13-year closing low on
concerns over the banking sector deal, and Hong Kong dipped 3.7
percent.
Singapore tumbled 3.3 percent and Kuala Lumpur fell 3.8
percent amid tension in Malaysian capital over Sunday's arrest of
Anwar. The regional worries caused Jakarta to drop 5.5 percent.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei stock average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
fell 385.82 points to 13,597.30, the lowest finish since February
25, 1986, after touching a low of 13,580.72 points in late
trading.
Share prices fell as investors demonstrated their dismay that
a fragile political deal between the ruling and opposition camps
to clean up the finance sector appeared close to collapse.
"We thought the agreement last week may help the market rally,
but negotiation on details is not making smooth progress," Kosaku
Inaba at Kaisei Securities Co. Ltd. said.
The key dispute is over ailing Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan
Ltd. The opposition insists the agreement will see it
nationalized but the ruling party is reportedly still pushing for
public funds to be injected.
Concerns prompted active selling of banks, with selling here
spilling over to the entire market, brokers said.
The Topix index of all first-section shares closed down 25.43
points at 1, 047.79 with turnover shrinking to an estimated 380
million shares from Friday's 453.9 million shares.
"Asian stocks are obviously falling in reaction to Tokyo's
weakness as their markets were not moving in line with the New
York market on the previous day as usual," Takeshi Segawa at New
Japan Securities Co. Ltd. said.
Elsewhere:
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian stock prices ended 3.8 percent
lower following clashes in the capital between police and
supporters of detained former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim.
The key Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's (KLSE's) composite index
closed 14. 98 points lower to 378.32.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed down 275.73 points at
7,170.23, just off a low of 7,142.19.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index fell 30.15 points to
882.59, while the broader All-Singapore index fell 8.56 points to
272.56.
In Sydney, the Australian Stock Exchange's main indicator, the
All Ordinaries index, fell 18.0 points to 2,521.9.
In Bangkok, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) main index
closed up 0.03 points at 221.88, off a high of 227.37 in morning
trade. The SET 50 selected index closed down 0.04 points at
15.05.
In Manila, the Philippine Stock Exchange index shed 10.35
points to 1,164.26.
In Seoul, the Korea Stock Exchange composite index closed 3.78
points down at 297.45, off a low of 295.63.
In Taipei, the Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index
dropped 120.19 points to 7, 029.40, following a 2.7 percent rise
in the previous session.
In Shanghai, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's B share index shed
0.05 point to settle at 30.48 points while the A share index of
locally-traded stocks ended up 16.54 points, or 1.3 percent, to
1,300.20 points.
In Auckland, the NZSE-40 index fell 15.48 points to 1,719.19.