Asian stocks fall, European shares climb higher
Saturday, 8 November 2008
LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters): European shares climbed Friday while most Asian shares fell as investors sought to balance economic worries with a new era of lower interest rates ahead of key US jobs data.
Oil dropped briefly below $60 a barrel before bouncing back to nearly $62 and the dollar was generally weaker.
The latest US non-farm payrolls report is widely expected to show the world's largest economy continuing to bleed jobs. The median forecast of economists polled by Reuters last week is for payrolls losses of 200,000 in October.
Investors have found few consistent havens except for the yen and some government bonds, with the financial crisis expected to see the world's developed economies headed for the first full-year contraction since World War Two.
Central banks have been slashing interest rates to shore up deteriorating economies. The Bank of Korea cut for the third time in a month on Friday, following half-point cuts on Thursday from the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.
The Bank of England also slashed its key rate by 1.5 percentage points on Thursday, much more than the market expected, taking borrowing costs to the lowest since the 1950s.
"The rate cuts send a signal on how committed the central banks are in reviving the global economy," said Jackson Wong, investment manager at Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong. "They inspire some confidence among investors."
The Nikkei ended down 316.14 points at 8,583.00. The broader Topix lost 3.3 percent to 879.00.
The dollar was weak against most currencies, particularly the euro, which gained 1 percent to $1.2828.
Oil dropped briefly below $60 a barrel before bouncing back to nearly $62 and the dollar was generally weaker.
The latest US non-farm payrolls report is widely expected to show the world's largest economy continuing to bleed jobs. The median forecast of economists polled by Reuters last week is for payrolls losses of 200,000 in October.
Investors have found few consistent havens except for the yen and some government bonds, with the financial crisis expected to see the world's developed economies headed for the first full-year contraction since World War Two.
Central banks have been slashing interest rates to shore up deteriorating economies. The Bank of Korea cut for the third time in a month on Friday, following half-point cuts on Thursday from the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.
The Bank of England also slashed its key rate by 1.5 percentage points on Thursday, much more than the market expected, taking borrowing costs to the lowest since the 1950s.
"The rate cuts send a signal on how committed the central banks are in reviving the global economy," said Jackson Wong, investment manager at Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong. "They inspire some confidence among investors."
The Nikkei ended down 316.14 points at 8,583.00. The broader Topix lost 3.3 percent to 879.00.
The dollar was weak against most currencies, particularly the euro, which gained 1 percent to $1.2828.