Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
October 22, 2008

Asian Stock Markets Follow Wall Street Decline
----------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1EDFCD6:A6F02AD83191E160F19DDAEB42D9B24E7F0EB4B66EA3A89D&
 
Analyst cites investor pessimism, declining profits and sales for
tumbling stock prices in Japan, India, South Korea, China 
Stocks prices across Asia tumbled on the back of declines on Wall Street
and pessimism that declining profits and sales in developed economies
makes a global recession more likely. Katie Hamann reports from Jakarta.
Investor gestures at trading house in Hong Kong (20 Oct 2008)After
rallying the past few days, Japan's main Nikkei stock index led declines
across Asia, tumbling 6.8 percent Wednesday. A strengthening Japanese
yen means exports will be more expensive and this is bad news for
electronics and auto makers. Major exporters, such as Sony, Canon and
Toyota all saw their share prices fall more than 6 percent. The nation's
banks also suffered because of concerns about lower profits. India's
third largest software service provider Wipro prompted jitters with its
lower than expected quarterly results. Mumbai's leading stock index was
down nearly 5 percent in late trading, wiping out Tuesday's gains. Stock
prices in Southeast Asia's largest economy, Indonesia, maintained the
downward trend, shedding almost 4.8 percent. Fauzi Ichsan is a senior
economist and government relations head with the Jakarta office of
Standard Chartered Bank. He says the latest price declines reflect new
concerns about company profits and fears that the world is slipping into
recession. "Initially, investors and speculators were more concerned
about the paralyzed banking system at the global level but once the
global central banks pump in liquidity and cut interest rates and once
there are signs that the banking system is adjusting to normal, now the
fears are actually on the recession factor," Fauzi explained. South
Korea's Kospi index closed down five percent. The won fell three percent
against the dollar. The South Korean currency has shed 31 percent this
year. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 6.2 percent after warning's from Citic
Pacific that it was facing a huge foreign exchange loss. The benchmark
Shanghai Composite Index closed down 3.2 percent. Strong performances by
share prices in the textiles and home appliances sectors helped keep the
i
ndex from falling further. Those industries have been buoyed by the
central governments decision to increase export tax rebates. 


.