Asian markets extended their losing streak today as investors were mostly in a profit-booking mode after last week's gains with inflationary pressures and Middle East unrest continuing to be the primary theme for the trading environment. The US housing data was quite good yesterday but the markets slid lower, indicating that by traders are preferring to stay on the sidelines ahead of the US Fed's interest rate setting meeting tomorrow.
US single-family home sales surged 11.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000, the Commerce Department said yesterday, up from a near record low pace of 270,000 in February when harsh winter weather hit the economy. However, stocks drifted lower. DOW came off its three year closing highs and dropped 26.11 points or 0.2 percent to close at 12,479.88 points.
This made the start of the proceedings a fragile affair today. The Japanese yen rose after its recent losses and skepticism about the near term economic outlook hurt the sentiments. Weak earnings from Nintendo and Nidec Corp made it an out and out bearish session and the benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 117.27 points or 1.20% to end at 9558.69 points.
In China, markets continued to be under stress on worries about further monetary tightening and the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index witnessed heavy losses for a second day. The index had broken under the key 3000 points mark yesterday and lost 25.77 points or 0.90% to end the day at 2939.18 points.
In Mumbai, stocks dipped for second consecutive session though the intraday rally curbed the losses. Political worries weighed on the market after the Central Bureau of Investigation, which filed its first supplementary charge-sheet today, dwelt at length on the role of Kanimozhi, a Rajya Sabha member and daughter of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Karunanidhi, in the 2G spectrum scam case. Volatility was high during the last one hour or so of trade as traders rolled positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment ahead of the expiry of the near-month April 2011 contracts on Thursday, 28 April 2011. As per provisional figures, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 61.63 points or 0.31% to 19,522.68. The index lost 277.39 points at the day's low of 19,306.92 in afternoon trade, its lowest level since 20 April 2011.
In other markets, the Straits Times index in Singapore shed 0.50%, Taiwan Weighted index dropped 0.03% while Seoul Composite index in South Korea pared 0.44%. Dollar was mixed today even as commodities and stocks dropped, lingering around 1.4600 mark against the Euro. Australian stocks were closed on account of a public holiday. Gold dropped under $1500 per ounce but clawed its way back to quote at $1503, down $6.10 per ounce on the day. Crude oil also slipped under $112 per barrel on steady profit booking.
