Asian markets bleed as Greek wounds hurt

Stocks drop across the world after Greece's debt gets downgraded to junk and Portugal's ratings are slashed

Asian stocks stumbled today as the Greek tragedy continued to act as the Achilles heel for the global markets. There are serious worries on the finances of the other troubled nations in Eurozone now and the current recovery in the world economy is feared to slow down amid worsening conditions on the sovereign debt front. Concerns about Europe, which remains the largest market for Asian exports, increased after Standard & Poor's, the rating agency, downgraded Greece's debt to junk status yesterday and hit Portugal's rating with a two-notch cut.

Europe may have to turn to the dreadful option of on debt selling in case the worst fears regarding PIIGS come true. The European and American markets fell sharply overnight on the same concerns, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 1.9 % to 10,991.99, its worst loss in three months. Commodity prices and Euro declined sharply today, leading to a broad pressure on resources. In a bid to stem the panic in Greece, the country's security regulator has temporarily banned short selling on the Athens stock exchange until June 28. The market has lost around 25% of its value in the last five weeks.

The Japanese stocks plunged following these cues. Weak closing in European and US markets in the previous session and negative trading across other markets in Asian region also impacted market sentiment, with almost all the stocks ended in negative territory. Traders preferred to adopt a wait-and-watch approach ahead of national holiday tomorrow and FOMC meeting later in the day in the U.S. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index plunged 287.87 points, or 2.6 %, to 10,925, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues fell 19.99 points, or 2.0%, to 978.

On the economic front, a report released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry revealed that retail sales in the country surged up 4.7% year-on-year in March, coming in at 12.286 trillion yen. That marked the third straight month of increase, and it beat forecasts for a 3.7 % annual increase following the 4.2 % expansion in February.

The Australian market ended in negative territory, reacting to the downgrading of sovereign credit ratings of Greece and Portugal. Weak closing on Wall Street in the previous session and an unexpected increase in consumer inflation for the quarter and lower commodity prices also weighed on market. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index declined 57.20 points, or 1.17 % to close at 4,823, while the All-Ordinaries Index ended flat at 4,854, representing a loss of 59.10 points, or 1.20 %.

A report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that consumer prices in the country rose at a stronger than expected pace during the first three months of the year, which may force the central bank to hike the cash rate again when its policy board meets next week. The data comes close on the heels of the release of the producer price inflation report, which also showed a bigger than expected increase in prices. According to the report, consumer price index gained 2.9% year-on-year in the March quarter. This follows a 2.1% increase in prices in the December quarter.

China's key stock index edged down 0.3 % to a fresh six-month closing low, although bank and property shares stabilized after sliding on Tuesday on concerns over lenders' fundraising plans and further steps to curb property speculation. The Shanghai Composite Index ended the day at 2,900.3 points, extending the index's 2.1 % drop the previous session on a media report of a possible share issue by China Construction Bank. Stocks in Hong Kong's dropped 1.2 %.

In other markets, South Korea's Kospi index fell 1.2% to 1,728.25 while New Zealand's NZX 50 ended down 0.3% and Philippine stocks lost 0.7%.

In Mumbai, the key benchmark extended losses for the second straight day as world stocks reeled from rating downgrades on Greece and Portugal. The BSE 30-share Sensex was provisionally down 285.27 points or 1.61%, off close to 240 points from the day's high and up close to 60 points from the day's low. Metal and realty stocks led the decline. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in the red. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) slumped more than 4%, extending recent losses triggered by disappointment from Q4 result. India's largest mobile services provider by sales Bharti Airtel dropped in volatile trade as Q4 net profit fell.

Light sweet crude oil futures for June delivery have a range bound session today but the undertone was primarily bearish on an across the board sell off in the world stocks. The counter edged up above $82 per barrel but turned lower soon and was last seen quoting at $82.27 a barrel in electronic trading, down $0.23 per barrel from previous close at $82.44 a barrel in New York on Tuesday.