NEW YORK: Stock markets throughout Asia tumbled today, the impact
of the terrorist attacks in America.
Many of Europe's exchanges
though vowed that it was business as usual come Wednesday despite the
attacks which destroyed both of New York's landmark World Trade
Center towers and hit the Pentagon.
In Asia: Tokyo share prices fell five per cent, Hong Kong stocks
dropped seven per cent and Australian markets were down four per
cent. The Tokyo Stock Exchange said on Wednesday it would suspend
trading in 15 stocks on its foreign section during Wednesday trade in
the wake of deadly attacks that forced Wall Street to stay shut a day
earlier.
The pan-European Euronext exchange ended trading as normal at 1530
GMT on Tuesday and said it would open for trade on Wednesday at its
regular hour of 0700 GMT.
"We have had other crisis situations in the past - the
invasion of Kuwait, for example. But the market is made to remain
open. To close the markets would add to the panic, and so the best
decision is to keep them open," a Euronext spokesman said.
Stocks and the US dollar plunged and safe-haven bonds soared on
Tuesday after two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New
York and a further plane crashed next to the Pentagon in Washington
D.C. Investors, seeking safe havens in a time of uncertainty, drove
the prices of gold and oil and the Swiss franc higher in the wake of
the incidents.
Wall Street is expected to remain closed on Wednesday. "Investors
will be wondering if this the start of a terrorist campaign on the US
aimed at high profile institutions,'' said Andrew Milligan, head of
global strategy at Standard Life Investments in Edinburgh. "There
are no prices. There is no trade,'' said one emerging markets trader
in New York. "All the brokers are downtown in the Trade Center,
so there are no prices.'' A New York Stock Exchange spokeswoman said
the market opening was now indefinitely delayed.
Stocks are expected to drop sharply after a delayed opening on
Tuesday in the wake of a series of explosions that caused the
collapse of Manhattan's World Trade Center. "When the market
opens, it will open down a lot,'' said Stanley Nabi (news/quote), a
managing director at Credit Suisse First Boston (news/quote), which
oversees $110 billion.
Short dated European government debt yields plunged with the
two-year paper hitting near two-year lows after explosions in the
World Trade Center sparked flight to quality into government debt.
The disaster sapped liquidity from the euro corporate bond market as
investors fled into safe haven government bonds.
The dollar fell against both the euro and yen after the explosion.
The euro stood at $0.9050, compared to $0.8978 just before the first
explosions. The Swiss franc spiked briefly to 1.4901 to the dollar,
from opening levels around 1.6882, but fell back quickly to around
1.66. IPE Brent crude futures rose over three and a half dollars to
more than $31 a barrel, while gold prices rose over six dollars, or
two percent, to $278.00/$280.50 per troy ounce.