TOKYO – World share benchmarks fell Wednesday following the latest retreat on Wall Street. Warnings of tighter regulation of China’s financial markets added to gloom in Shanghai and Hong Kong
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KEEPING SCORE: Germany’s DAX gave up 1 percent to 12,913.40 and the CAC 40 of France lost 0.9 percent to 5,329.84. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.4 percent to 7,298.18. S&P 500 futures declined 0.2 percent to 2,623.10 while Dow futures sank 0.3 percent to 24,102.00, augering a downbeat start for U.S. shares.
WALL STREET: Technology stocks recovered but then lost momentum on Tuesday, as losses for telecom stocks and utilities helped cement the S&P 500’s longest losing streak in nearly four months. The S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent to 2,629.57. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.5 percent to 24,180.64, and the Nasdaq composite declined 0.2 percent to 6,762.21. Losers outnumbered winners on the New York Stock Exchange by nearly two to one.
CHINA CRACKDOWN: Chinese shares fell after a senior China Banking Regulatory Commission official warned of tougher oversight over financial markets and illegal financial dealings, according to state media reports. A CBRC vice chairman, Wang Zhaoxing, said risks to markets “should not be taken lightly,” the state-run China Daily newspaper reported.
ANALYST’S TAKE: “The sell-off into Tuesday’s U.S. session provides weak leads for Asian markets midweek and futures have certainly pointed us in the direction of further pressure for the region,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.
ASIA’S DAY: Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 2.0 percent to 22,177.04 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong slumped 2.1 percent to 28,224.80. The Shanghai Composite index gave up 0.3 percent to 3,293.96 while South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.4 percent to 2,474.37. The S&P ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.4 percent to 5,945.70. India’s Sensex shed 0.4 percent to 32,671.63, while shares were mostly lower in Southeast Asia.
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CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 112.18 Japanese yen from 112.60 yen late Tuesday. The euro declined $1.1820 from $1.1825, and the British pound fell to $1.3406 from $1.3444.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gave up 9 cents to $57.53 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 15 cents to settle at $57.62 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 14 cents to $62.72 a barrel in London.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York contributed.
