After a two day rally, most of the Asian markets snapped the day’s trade in the negative terrain as eurozone finance chiefs struggled to boost the financial firepower of a bailout fund for the debt-ridden region. Moreover, investors remained cautious ahead of US and Chinese manufacturing data on Thursday and US employment data on Friday this week. The sentiments in the region were also dampened after credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut credit ratings on US lenders from Bank of America Corp. to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., and Morgan Stanley had their long-term credit grades cut to A- from A at S&P. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was reduced to A from A+.
In China, the Shangai Composite Index has plunged over three percent, following a report by a Chinese central banker, who has played down the possibility of monetary policy easing next year moreover, Hang Seng dropped by about one and a half percent as Property shares suffered after Credit Suisse forecasted office rents in the city would drop by 25% next year and then stay flat in 2013. New World Development Co. ended down 3.6%, while Henderson Land Development Co. fell 2.4%.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,333.41 | -78.98 | -3.27 |
Hang Seng | 17,989.35 | -266.85 | -1.46 |
Jakarta Composite | 3,715.08 | 27.31 | 0.74 |
KLSE Composite | 1,472.10 | 27.38 | 1.90 |
Nikkei 225 | 8,434.61 | -43.21 | -0.51 |
Straits Times | 2,702.46 | 14.36 | 0.53 |
Seoul Composite | 1,847.51 | -9.01 | -0.49 |
Taiwan Weighted | 6,904.12 | -84.53 | -1.21 |