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| Asian stocks fall on Japan economy; US futures drop |
| Bloomberg / Aug 18, 2009, 00:48 IST |
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Asian stocks dropped as Japan’s economy grew less than economists estimated, while lower metals and oil dimmed the earnings outlook for commodities producers. China’s Shanghai Composite Index tumbled the most in nine months and US index futures slid.
Swedbank AB decreased 5.3 per cent as the largest bank in the Baltics said it will raise 15 billion kronor ($2.1 billion) selling shares. Sony Corp, the maker of the PlayStation 3 game console, slid 4.1 per cent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton, the biggest mining company, retreated 4 per cent as copper fell.
The MSCI World Index lost 1.6 per cent at 12.27 pm in London, the steepest intraday drop since July 2. The gauge of 23 developed nations has rallied 52 per cent since March 9 as companies from GlaxoSmithKline to Intel Corp reported better-than-estimated results and Germany and France unexpectedly returned to economic growth.
Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at an annual 3.7 per cent pace in the three months ended June 30, missing the median analyst estimate for a 3.9 per cent increase.
“We don’t believe that the underlying macro-economic fundamentals of the G3 economies, that’s Japan, the United States and the European Union, are sufficient for us to feel that from now we are going to have the beginning of a secular bull-equity market,” said Andrew Freris, senior investment strategist for Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management.
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