BackAsia stocks slip amid G-20 tensions, Cisco outlook
Asia stocks slip amid G-20 tensions, Cisco outlook
PremiumTokyo: Asian stock markets fell Friday on a gloomy outlook from Cisco Systems Inc., fresh European debt crisis fears and as a summit of the world’s biggest economies struggled to soothe currency tensions.
The losses across Asia followed a down day on Wall Street where Cisco, the world’s largest maker of computer networking gear, rattled investors by cutting its sales forecast for a second quarter in a row.
Oil prices tumbled below $87 after big gains the previous two days.
Markets were already on edge as leaders from the Group of 20 major advanced and developing nations struggled at a summit in Seoul to resolve a US-China currency dispute that threatens to escalate into a global trade war.
Adding to negative sentiment was mounting speculation that Ireland one of Europe’s most financially troubled countries would not be able to cut public spending and may have to resort to a bailout.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index slid 105.28 points, or 1.1%, to 9,755.72 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.8% to 4,690.90.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index dived 2.3% to 3,076.28 amid expectations of more government measures to slow economic growth after inflation hit a 25-month high in October.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1% to 24,431.88 and South Korea’s Kospi was down less than 0.1% at 1,914.65. Markets in India, Singapore and Taiwan were also lower.
In Seoul, President Barack Obama, China’s Hu Jintao and the other 18 leaders filed into closed-door talks to thrash out a final statement for the G-20 meeting after overnight negotiations by aides that lasted until daybreak.
The dispute over whether China and the United States are manipulating their currencies is threatening to resurrect destructive protectionist policies like those that worsened the Great Depression in the 1930s. The biggest fear is that trade barriers will send the global economy back into recession
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 73.94 points, or 0.7%, to close at 11,283.10 as the weak outlook from Cisco shook faith in the strength of the technology industry’s recovery.
In currencies, the dollar rose to ¥82.36 from ¥82.32 late Thursday in New York. The euro fell to $1.3620 from $1.3648.
Benchmark crude for December delivery fell $1.34 to $86.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled unchanged at $87.81 on Thursday.
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