Asian stock markets resume slide after US rout
Asian stock markets resumed their downward slide Friday after Wall Street fell to its lowest levels in more than 12 years amid deepening fears about the fate of General Motors Corp. and major financial companies.
The region's retreat marked a return to the selling that had gripped global equities markets until a brief rally earlier this week on hopes China would announced major new stimulus measures.
Investors, already deflated after Beijing failed to deliver, were forced to grapple with a warning from General Motors that the struggling automaker may have to file for bankruptcy.
Along with growing uncertainty about the financial system, the news led to yet another rout in U.S. markets with banking stocks suffering some of the steepest drops. Citigroup Inc., stilling reeling despite billions of dollars in government aid, fell below $1 a share.
'You can buy Citi at the 99 cent store now,' said Paul Schulte, a chief Asia equity strategist at Nomura International in Hong Kong. 'It's nauseating. We keep grasping at straws to find hope, and the markets keep punishing us.'
Investors also were holding back ahead of what is expected to be an especially bleak U.S. employment report later Friday. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters/IFR predict the Labor Department will report that U.S. employers slashed 648,000 jobs in February — more than the 598,000 cut in January.
Every major Asian market traded into the red, though the losses were somewhat more muted than the sharp declines in the U.S.
Asian stock markets resumed their downward slide Friday after Wall Street fell to its lowest levels in more than 12 years amid deepening fears about the fate of General Motors Corp. and major financial companies.
The region's retreat marked a return to the selling that had gripped global equities markets until a brief rally earlier this week on hopes China would announced major new stimulus measures.
Investors, already deflated after Beijing failed to deliver, were forced to grapple with a warning from General Motors that the struggling automaker may have to file for bankruptcy.
Along with growing uncertainty about the financial system, the news led to yet another rout in U.S. markets with banking stocks suffering some of the steepest drops. Citigroup Inc., stilling reeling despite billions of dollars in government aid, fell below $1 a share.
'You can buy Citi at the 99 cent store now,' said Paul Schulte, a chief Asia equity strategist at Nomura International in Hong Kong. 'It's nauseating. We keep grasping at straws to find hope, and the markets keep punishing us.'
Investors also were holding back ahead of what is expected to be an especially bleak U.S. employment report later Friday. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters/IFR predict the Labor Department will report that U.S. employers slashed 648,000 jobs in February — more than the 598,000 cut in January.
Every major Asian market traded into the red, though the losses were somewhat more muted than the sharp declines in the U.S.
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