Asian stocks float in a sea of red

Sustained selling hurts the regional equities as global worries stay firmly in place

Asian stocks eased further today, as the weak global economic recovery continued to act as the central theme in the global asset markets. The US economic data has been quite poor off late and with the Eurozone also flashing a number of negative data surprises yesterday, the traders saw little incentive to by anything than the US dollar, which neared its six week high against the Euro in the last session. US stocks closed lower, falling in late slide as amid a flurry of mergers and acquisitions. The Dow fell by 39.21 points or 0.4 percent to 10,174.41.



The stocks in Japan slipped sharply as the markets eyed a gloomy global outlook and the persistent rise in the Japanese yen added fuel to the fire. The Yen stuck near 15 year highs despite the Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda voicing a direct concern about the ferocious rise in the currency. At a news conference at the ministry, Noda said that recent currency moves are clearly one-sided and that disorderly moves can be harmful to economic stability, according to media reports. Top exporters like Canon Inc and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group slumped as the Nikkei 225 Stock Average tumbled to a nine month low. The Nikkei 225 shed 121.55 points or 1.33% to settle at 8995 mark- breaking under the critical 9k levels for the index. The gauge is more than 20 percent below its 18-month high on April 5 earlier this year.

Australian stocks slumped after a cautious outing yesterday as the continued weak global climate and a lack of clarity on the local political front took their toll. The weekend's election in Australia has resulted in a hung parliament, making investors nervous on the whole. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index eased by 47.7 points, or 1.1%, at 4381.3 after hitting 4378.0, its lowest level since July 22. Commodity prices stayed lower, keeping the broad sentiments wounded.

In China, stocks rose slightly after a sharp tumble in the last session. Ideas that the government would not engage in a full throttled tightening of the property sector supported the index-linked counters. The market had closed sharply in red in last session. The Ministry of Land and Resources stated on Monday that it would continue to crack down on land hoarding in the real estate sector. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic market, added 10.94 points or 0.41% to close at 2650 points.

In Mumbai, stocks witnessed a sustained slide as the negative global cues took an effect. The SENSEX was off by around 100 points or 0.63% to settle at 18315 points. The Indian government announced a bagful of stimulus measures yesterday in the latest review of the Foreign Trade Policy. To spur exports, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma announced a six-month extension of the Duty Entitlement Pass Book scheme (DEPB). The DEPB, which neutralises the incidence of duties, was supposed to expire on 31 December 2010.

In other markets, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong shed 1.10%, TSEC in Taiwan dropped 0.44% while Strait Times index in Singapore eased by 0.11%. In commodities, the crude oil prices tanked to a fresh seven week low of $72.02 per barrel levels. Copper was also pressurized as weak global equities and a strong dollar had a ripple effect on the red metal. COMEX Copper quotes at $3.2510 per pound, down 1.30% from the previous close.