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Fresh gloom engulfs Asian markets
AFP - Saturday, March 7
TOKYO (AFP) - - Gloom returned to Asian markets Friday after Wall Street was hammered by grim economic news, a bankruptcy warning from General Motors and fading hopes of new Chinese stimulus measures.
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GM warned it could be broken up after its auditors voiced "substantial doubt" about the struggling automaker's ability to stay afloat.
Investors were also bracing for a key US labour market report that was expected to show further massive job losses in the United States as the world's largest economy sinks deeper into recession.
There was disappointment that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao did not announce any fresh stimulus measures in his annual "state of the nation" address on Thursday.
But a top planner said Beijing could still boost its four trillion yuan (585 billion dollar) spending package if it proves inadequate in boosting growth during the global financial crisis.
"The decision will be based on the development of the situation," Zhang Ping, head of the National Development Reform Commission, said on the sidelines of an ongoing parliamentary session.
Asian markets limped to the end of another tough week.
Tokyo dropped 3.50 percent to a four-month low, while Seoul lost 0.3 percent and Sydney shed 1.4 percent.
Investors took their cue from Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 4.09 percent Thursday to end at its lowest level since April 1997. Citigroup's share price dropped below one dollar for the first time.
The market was hit by a wave of negative news, including the stark warning from GM that it could go bust.
"The market had also hoped to hear news from China on new stimulus measures," said Kazuhiro Takahashi at Daiwa Securities SMBC. "But nothing clear came out."
General Electric, a massive conglomerate hit by an unprecedented meltdown in shares linked to fears about its finance arm, sought to reassure investors it would weather the crisis.
GE's chief financial officer Keith Sherin said the company "is safe and secure in this environment" and sees no need for additional capital.
Investors were braced for a dismal US jobs report later in the day. Analysts estimate the world's largest economy shed about 650,000 jobs in February, even worse than January's 598,000, which was the most since 1974.
The unemployment rate was forecast to jump to 7.9 percent, from 7.6 percent the previous month, which was the highest level since 1992.
"The current recession, which initially affected the housing and financial sectors, has now disappointingly spread across a broad swath of the economy," Mike Fitzpatrick at MF Global said.
The Bank of England and the European Central Bank (ECB) meanwhile slashed interest rates to record lows in a new attack on the relentless global economic crisis.
The ECB slashed its key lending rate by 50 basis points to 1.5 percent and drastically revised its forecasts, predicting the eurozone economy will shrink 2.7 percent in 2009.
Some analysts criticised the ECB for being too slow to respond fully to the worsening economic downturn.
"It is hard to believe the Bank took so long to grasp the severity of (the) eurozone recession and only now is adjusting its policies to it," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist at SJS Markets in Hong Kong.
The delay "will cost the European economy dearly," he warned.
The Bank of England cut its main rate by half a point to 0.50 percent, the lowest level in its 315-year history, and said it would pump 75 billion pounds of newly created money into the financial system to combat a credit crunch.
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A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 3, 2009. Gloom returned to Asian markets Friday after Wall Street was hammered by grim economic news, a bankruptcy warning from General Motors and fading hopes of new Chinese stimulus measures.
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