World stocks extend slump
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
LONDON, Nov 18 (AFP): World stock markets slumped for a second day running today amid the prospect of a year-long recession in Japan.
About an hour after the start of trading across Europe, London was down 1.56 per cent, Frankfurt shed 1.52 per cent and Paris lost 1.65 per cent in value.
Earlier, Tokyo had closed down 2.28 per cent, Hong Kong tumbled 5.94 per cent and Sydney shed 3.60 per cent.
US stock markets had fallen by about 2.50 per cent Monday as global recession worries intensified, dealers said.
Japan's economics minister said Tuesday that he had "no confidence at all" that the world's second largest economy would grow next year.
"In reality we see few factors that would contribute to positive growth" in the fiscal year starting next April, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano told reporters.
"If I judge what is happening honestly, I have no confidence at all now that there will be positive growth," he said, a day after official figures showed Asia's biggest economy is in recession.
The government has never before predicted a contraction for the upcoming year in its annual economic outlook report, which is published each December. The worst-ever forecast was for zero growth in fiscal 2002.
Meanwhile in Asian stock market trading Tuesday, Shanghai dived 6.31 per cent, Seoul slid 3.90 per cent and Manila lost 3.42 per cent.
The losses are "primarily still due to concerns over the United States," said George Ching, an analyst at Philippines online broker Citiseconline.
"If you look at it fundamentally, nothing has changed. The US is still expected to go through a recession and the concern now is how deep the recession will be," he said.
"They are concerned that the recession would be deeper than what everyone expected," considering that the economic data coming out of the United States is worse than what many economists had projected.
In Britain meanwhile, investors awaited official data expected to show the first drop in British inflation for more than a year.
About an hour after the start of trading across Europe, London was down 1.56 per cent, Frankfurt shed 1.52 per cent and Paris lost 1.65 per cent in value.
Earlier, Tokyo had closed down 2.28 per cent, Hong Kong tumbled 5.94 per cent and Sydney shed 3.60 per cent.
US stock markets had fallen by about 2.50 per cent Monday as global recession worries intensified, dealers said.
Japan's economics minister said Tuesday that he had "no confidence at all" that the world's second largest economy would grow next year.
"In reality we see few factors that would contribute to positive growth" in the fiscal year starting next April, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano told reporters.
"If I judge what is happening honestly, I have no confidence at all now that there will be positive growth," he said, a day after official figures showed Asia's biggest economy is in recession.
The government has never before predicted a contraction for the upcoming year in its annual economic outlook report, which is published each December. The worst-ever forecast was for zero growth in fiscal 2002.
Meanwhile in Asian stock market trading Tuesday, Shanghai dived 6.31 per cent, Seoul slid 3.90 per cent and Manila lost 3.42 per cent.
The losses are "primarily still due to concerns over the United States," said George Ching, an analyst at Philippines online broker Citiseconline.
"If you look at it fundamentally, nothing has changed. The US is still expected to go through a recession and the concern now is how deep the recession will be," he said.
"They are concerned that the recession would be deeper than what everyone expected," considering that the economic data coming out of the United States is worse than what many economists had projected.
In Britain meanwhile, investors awaited official data expected to show the first drop in British inflation for more than a year.