Despite a stronger day in Japan and other Asian markets yesterday, Europe and the US again fell as the Fukushima nuclear crisis showed no sign of improving.
Markets in the US and Europe were down 1% to mostly more than 2% in contrast to the recovery in Asia earlier in the trading day.
Our market will be down more than 60 points at the opening this morning if the 67 point drop on the futures are any guide.
Some major US indexes lost all their gains for 2011 and are now lower for the year so far after the 2% tumble overnight.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite erased their gains for the year, while the Dow is barely hanging on, up only 0.3% in 2011.
The Dow shed 242 points, or 2%. At its day’s low the index was off almost 300 points.
The S&P 500 shed 25 points, or 2%, to end at 1,256.88. The broad index closed 2010 at 1,257.64.
The Nasdaq lost 51 points, or 1.9%, to finish at 2,616.82. The index closed at 2,652.87 last year.
US 10 year bonds saw a flight to quality with the yield down sharply to 3.21%, after hitting 3.14 in trading.
They were up around 3.70% six weeks ago.
Oil prices rose to just over $US98.20 a barrel in New York, up around $US1.
Gold rose $US4 an ounce to $US1396 for the April contract on Comex, but grain prices were again weak although soybean prices firmed.
Copper rose almost 5USc a pound to just over $US4.1860 a pound on Comex.
Not helping in the US were very weak housing starts for February.
The gravity of the situation in Japan was illustrated by the rare address to the nation by Japan’s emperor.
The television appearance by Emperor Akihito emphasised the gravity of the crisis gripping Japan after the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami killed thousands and crippled the Fukushima plant.
Akihito said he was "deeply concerned" about the "unpredictable" situation at the stricken Fukushima No.1 power plant. It was his first public address on a major issue ever.
If anything the situation continues to worsen and China became the latest country to call a halt to its nuclear program pending a review.
As China has the biggest expansion plans of any country for nuclear power, the news is bearish for BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto Cameco and other uranium suppliers and technology groups.
Wall Street ended lower instead of rising after comments on the crisis from a leading EU official, and housing starts slumped unexpectedly.
The Dow and other major indexes were down over 1.7% (or 205 points).
European stock markets dropped sharply Wednesday as renewed worries over Japan’s nuclear crisis and a downgrade of Portugal’s credit rating soured investors’ mood.
In London the Footsie 100 dropped 95 points or 1.7% for a sixth day after falling 1.4% on Tuesday. The index is now down over 8% from its highs last month
The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 1.6% to end at 262.18, posting a new 2011 closing low. The benchmark has slumped nearly 5% so far this week.
Germany’s DAX 30 index closed down 2% to 6,513.84, having dropped 3.2% on Tuesday. In Paris, the CAC 40 index fell 2.2% to 3,696.56.
The opening in Tokyo and in Australia will be far less confident today than it was yesterday when the rebound was widely expected
Sharemarkets in Asia rebounded yesterday, but the gains were tempered during the day by more gloomy reports from Japan where the struggle to control the ongoing problems at the Fukushima nuclear power station complex continues to worry investors and citizens alike.
Tokyo’s Nikkei ended up 5.2% or 446.7 points at 9051.91, after jumping more than 6% in the first 20 minutes of trading yesterday.
Asian shares in fact rose for the first time in five days despite more earthquakes in Japan and a fire at Fukushima hampered efforts to bring the crisis under control.
The Australian sharemarket bounced today, buoyed by the rebound in Japan, but gains were trimmed in afternoon trade as worries about Japan’s nuclear crisis returned to undermine sentiment.
At the close, the ASX200 index was up 29.5 points, or 0.65%, at 4558.2, after earlier rising as high as 4582.2. The All Ords was up 34.1 points, or 0.7%, at 4644.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.4%, Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.9%, India’s Sensex was up 1.2%, China’s Shanghai rose 0.7%, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 0.4%.
Commodities edges higher with gold, silver and copper making modest gains.
In Australia, uranium related stocks bounced back as Paladin Energy climbed 14%, ERA jumped 10%, and Extract Resources added 6%.
ERA was up 73 cents, or 10.3%, at $7.80 and Extract Resources added 46 cents, or 5.75%, to $8.46. Paladin Energy gained 44 cents, or 13.5%, to $3.70
There have been more than 450 aftershocks, with two of magnitude 6 or stronger yesterday, according to the US Geological Survey.
A new quake hit at 5:43 am yesterday 139 kilometers from Tokyo, according to the USGS, while a separate 6.2-magnitude quake struck southwest of the capital Tuesday night, near Mount Fuji.
A 6 magnitude quake it late afternoon yesterday.
The share price of Tokyo Electric Power Co, owners of the Fukushima Daiichi complex, fell 300 yen but there were no buyers yesterday.
That meant it closed limit down, or effectively a fall of around 25%.
That took the loss since Monday to more than 74%.
Barclays economists wrote in a note that the four Japanese prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki, which were hurt the most by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami account for about 6.2% of the nation’s gross domestic product, 6.8% of its population, 7.2% of private-sector capital stock a
