Asian equities bleed on Japanese nuclear hazard

Stocks down steeply in Asia, Dow futures slump 200 points

Asian equities bled today with a massive sell off making it a out and out bearish session. The losses were led by the Japanese stocks, with the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average collapsing nearly 14% at a point in time as Japan's Prime Minister Kan said a “substantial amount” of radiation was leaking from a nuclear power plant affected by Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami. The DOW futures slid lower by 200 points and US dollar also stayed firm ahead of the US FOMC meet later on today. In overnight US markets, lack of any first tier economic data kept the sentiments steady and a intraday bounce was witnessed in the broad markets.



In Japan, the stocks crashed for a second day amid increasing concerns of nuclear disaster in the country. News of another explosion at Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant, where the explosion was at it no.4 reactor, following radiation leaks from nuclear reactor no.2, and comments from Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, urging people within a radius of 30 kilometers to stay indoors amid fears of more radiation leaks, kept the markets utterly nervous and a stubborn immovability in Japanese yen did not help much in calming the sentiments. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index was down around 14% at a time and ended the trading session at 8,605.15, down 1,015.34 points, or 10.55% on the day.

In Australia, the stocks slid lower right from the start amid gloomy scenes in the other Asian markets. Japanese nuclear disaster, coupled with weak commodities affected the index linked counters and the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index ended with a massive loss of 97.70 points, or 2.11% to close at 4,528.70 points. On the economic front, a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the sale of new motor vehicles in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in February compared to the previous month, standing at 84,122. The current rise followed a 2.4% monthly contraction in January.

In China, markets dropped as traders sold the financials heavily and traders eyed the possibility that the central bank could raise the interest rates yet again in the near term. The benchmark Shanghai Composite reversed its latest set of gains and ended down 40.57 points or 1.38% to close at 2897.06- breaking under the critical 2900 points levels.

In Mumbai, the key benchmark indices came off day's highs in late trade as US index futures and European markets tumbled on a worsening nuclear crisis in Japan. High volatility was the hallmark of the day's trading session. Indian stocks cut steep intraday losses as commodity prices cooled, easing inflation worries. As per provisional closing, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 245.72 points or 1.33% to 18,193.76. The index slumped 518.93 points at the day's low of 17,920.55 in morning trade, its lowest level since 28 February 2011.

In other markets, Straits Times index in Singapore dropped 2.63%, Seoul Composite index in South Korea pared 2.40% while Taiwan Weighted index in Taiwan was hammered by 3.35%. In commodities, crude oil futures fell by nearly three dollars and extended its slide after breaking under $100 yesterday. The commodity quotes at $98.38, down $2.81 per barrel on the day. Gold also slumped; not being able to hold on near $1430 and currently quotes at $1406.90, down $18 per ounce.