Viral Post
World shares and U.S. futures skidded Tuesday as flaring conflict in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher. A wave of Houthi attacks on oil facilities and utilities in Saudi Arabia’s southern region has escalated renewed fighting between an important U.S. ally and Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen.
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX declined 0.3 percent to 25,922.44, and the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.2 percent to 8,291.43. Britain’s FTSE 100 was nearly unchanged at 10,824.32. The futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined, with the S&P 500 down 0.2 percent and the Dow Jones falling 0.7 percent.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gave up early gains, sinking 1.7 percent to 65,269.33, as major exporters were sold due to a surge in the value of the Japanese yen. Shares in Toyota Motor Corp. fell 4.1 percent, while Panasonic Holdings Corp. dropped 5.8 percent. The U.S. dollar slipped to 153.86 Japanese yen from 154.34 yen, reflecting expectations of U.S. and Japanese government intervention to stabilize the yen.
The Japanese economy grew at a slightly faster annual pace in the April-June quarter at 1.4 percent, revised from an earlier estimate of 1.1 percent. However, overall investment contracted by 0.9 percent. Analyst Norihiro Yamaguchi of Oxford Economics noted that while consumption boost from policy measures is fading, supply-side inflation will accelerate, reducing consumer purchasing power.
South Korea’s Kospi fell back after an early rally, losing 0.6 percent to 6,954.52. Samsung Electronics shares also declined slightly. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4 percent to 25,317.18, while China’s Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.2 percent to 3,940.55. China reported a 25 percent year-on-year increase in August exports, driven by strong demand for autos and high-tech items.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1 percent to 8,920.80. The week prior, the S&P 500 lost 0.4 percent, and the Dow industrials fell 0.5 percent. The Nasdaq composite also gave back 0.3 percent.
Wall Street will receive key updates on inflation this week, with the U.S. releasing the August Producer Price Index (PPI) on Thursday and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Friday. These reports will detail price changes for businesses and consumers, respectively.
In energy markets, Brent crude rose 1.5 percent to US$98.48 a barrel, while U.S. crude surged 2.5 percent to US$93.79 a barrel, driven by ongoing tensions in the Middle East. The euro slipped slightly to US$1.1615 from US$1.1624.
The article was contributed by AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him in Bangkok and Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo.
Source: BNN Bloomberg
