Asian rally spiked
GLOBAL MARKETS/ STOCK REPORT
| Samsung Electronics, South Korea's biggest company, dropped the most in three weeks after President Roh Moo Hyun accepted lawmakers' demand for an investigation into bribery allegations. HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, fell to a 20-month low before paring losses. |
| The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.1 per cent to 158.30 as of 5:32 pm in Tokyo, trimming an earlier decline of 2.1 per cent. Japanese shares advanced, lifting the Nikkei 225 Stock Average by 0.6 per cent to 15,222.85. |
| Benchmarks dropped in most markets open for trading. Hon Hai Precision Industry and Posco fell on concerns that credit-market losses will slow global economic growth, damping demand for the region's exports of electronics and raw materials. |
| President Roh said he will appoint an independent probe into allegations of bribery against the Samsung Group. Samsung's former chief attorney, Kim Yong Chul, said on Monday that Samsung Corp diverted more than 200 billion won ($215 million) in 1994 by inflating sales to an affiliate. Accounting fraud at Samsung companies amounted to over 7 trillion won as of 2000, Kim said. |
| EUROPE European stocks retreated for a second day, paced by raw-material producers and energy companies, as metal and oil prices declined. |
| BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, and Total SA, Europe's largest oil refiner, dropped. Barclays paced gains by banks after the lender said full-year earnings will be "broadly in line" with analyst estimates. |
| The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index lost 0.4 per cent to 354.27 as of 8:50 am in London. The index has dropped 8.8 per cent this month on concerns that losses related to the US sub-prime mortgages will sap economic growth. US US stock-index futures climbed, pointing to a rebound from the market's first 10 per cent drop in four years, after Citigroup said it will receive a $7.5 billion cash infusion from Abu Dhabi's government. |
| Citigroup, which has slumped 45 per cent this year, advanced in Germany after the largest US bank said it will sell a 4.9 per cent stake to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The New York-based firm has estimated losses from sub-prime mortgages and related securities may reduce fourth-quarter net income by $5 billion to $7 billion. |
| Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase also gained in European trading. |
| Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December rose 17 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 1,426.3 at 9:13 am in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures increased 115 to 12,887. Nasdaq-100 Index futures added 19.75 points to 2,019.75. |
| The S&P 500 and Dow average dropped the most in two weeks on Monday, leaving both indices more than 10 per cent below their October records and signaling a "correction," according to Bespoke Investment Group LLC. |