Feb 07
28
Morning Call…..FEAR STRIKES!
We had a major sell off yesterday around the world. The DOW closed down 416 points at 12216 which has taken away all the years gains. The S&P fell 50 points and the NASDAQ fell 96 points. And over night Asian stocks added to global rout. The FTSE, writes Greg Secker, 100 fell 148 points, the FTSE 250 fell 431 points. Futures – DOW is called up 10 points, FTSE is called down 65 points as the US markets continued to fall after the UK markets had closed. Oil is trading at $60.50 a barrel and gold at $671.60.
Stock markets plummeted across Europe and America on Tuesday after a shock nine per cent slump in China’s Shanghai Composite index.
The decline, the steepest in a decade, came after consecutive weeks of record highs.
The loss came amid concern over interest rate rises in China and fears that Chinese authorities may crack down on stock market speculation.
A total of £36.2 billion was wiped off the FTSE 100 as the bourse suffered its biggest fall since May last year.
Investor panic on news from China sent the index plunging to finish 148.6 points lower at 6286.1, a decline of 2.3 per cent.
New York’s Dow Jones was down more than one per cent.
Sentiment was also affected by pessimistic words on the US economy from former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, concern over South African mining taxes, and Iran’s continuing nuclear brinkmanship
In the mining sector, Xstrata shed more than six per cent to 2479p.
Lonmin followed suit, down 209p at 3165p. BHP Billiton was next, off 89p at 1051p, and Antofagasta slumped 28p at 473.5p.
Fund managers also lost out, with Amvescap down 37.5p at 612.5p and Man Group slipping 31p to 557p.
Reuters was the only blue chip firm in positive territory after Credit Suisse upgraded the news and information provider to ‘outperform’ from “neutral” and raised its price target.
Stock rose 6p to 432p.
The leading fallers were Xstrata, Lonmin and BHP Billiton.
