Asian markets ease, sterling remains vulnerable
- Story
- Comments
<a
target="_blank"
href="http://netspiderads2.indiatimes.com/ads.dll/clickthrough?slotid=37105"><img
alt="Advertisement" height="71" width="640" border="0"
src="http://netspiderads2.indiatimes.com/ads.dll/photoserv?slotid=37105"></a>
Asian shares fell on Wednesday on investor concerns that the recent rally in global equities was running out of steam
Sentiment toward riskier assets was not completely soured, however, with US crude futures and Shanghai copper clinging on to gains and gold little changed.
"Asian markets have given up further ground today as a lack of positive drivers to keep the risk rally going has encouraged investors to lock in recent gains. Price action in equities seems to have plateaued after weeks of a relentless rally," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG Markets.
The bearish tone was expected to spill over to European markets, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX to open down as much as 0.5 per cent.
US stock futures were down 0.1 per cent, also pointing to a soft Wall Street open, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average marked another record close on Tuesday, its eighth straight day of rises and pushing it higher into overbought territory.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5 per cent. South Korean shares
bucked the regional downtrend, edging up 0.2 per cent.
"We are still in the scare framework, people are still scared of risk," said Adrian Foster, head of financial markets research for Asia-Pacific at Rabobank International in Hong Kong.
This was despite the generous global liquidity still in place even when the risks that prompted central banks into accommodative stances have subsided, Foster said, with Europe stabilising and the United States skirting around its budget problems, improving growth prospects and supporting asset prices generally.
Michael Gavin, head of asset allocation at Barclays Capital in New York, suggests the return of the VIX volatility index
to levels seen before the global financial crisis may indicate a "new normal" exten
IFAT PERWEEN
PGDM 2nd SEP
No comments:
Post a Comment