Stocks tumble amid Ukraine tensions; Russian credit rating cut

BEIJING -- Global stocks tumbled Friday after tensions over Ukraine mounted and Standard & Poor's cut Russia's credit rating, warning of capital flight and risks to investment due to the crisis.

Oil declined but stayed above $101 per barrel amid worries about the possible impact on Russian supplies.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1 per cent to 2,036.52 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.4 per cent to 22,238.06. Taiwan's Taiex lost 1.9 per cent to 8,774.12. Seoul, India, Singapore and Bangkok also declined.

Tokyo bucked the regional trend. Its Nikkei 225 added 0.2 per cent to 14,429.26, rebounding after losing 1 per cent a day earlier after talks between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama failed to produce a trade agreement.

In Europe, Germany's Dax fell 0.9 per cent to 9,460.39 while France's CAC-40 shed 0.5 per cent to 4,458.16 in early trading. Russia's Micex gave up 0.9 per cent to 1,288.40.

Markets were on edge after Ukraine launched an operation to drive pro-Russian insurgents out of occupied buildings in the country's east. Moscow responded by announcing military exercises near Ukraine's border.

"Escalating tensions in Ukraine only serve to worsen sentiment," said Desmond Chua of CMC Markets in a report. "As the two nations inch ever closer to war, an outbreak will send investors fleeing to safe havens."

S&P's decision to cut Russia's rating from BBB to BBB-, its first such reduction in five years, was the most tangible economic result so far of Moscow's policy toward Ukraine. The rating is one step above speculative or non-investment grade.

S&P said it took the step because the tense situation "could see additional significant outflows of both domestic and foreign capital from the Russian economy."

Seoul's Kospi declined 1.3 per cent to 1,971.66 and India's Sensex shed 0.6 per cent to 22,747.79. Markets in Australia and New Zealand were closed for a holiday.

On Wall Street, the future for the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.3 per cent while that for the Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 0.2 per cent in pre-market trading on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Earlier, solid earnings from Apple, Caterpillar and some other U.S. companies helped to reassure markets. But relief was mixed with concern about higher U.S. unemployment claims, which dampened enthusiasm about gains in durable goods orders.

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits jumped 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 329,000 last week while durable goods orders rose 2.6 per cent in March. That helped to recover some ground lost to declines in December and January.

"Durable goods are grinding their way back to pre-December norms but that's about it," DBS Group said in a report.

Benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery shed 30 cents to $101.64 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 50 cents on Thursday to close at $101.94.

In currency markets, the dollar was up 0.1 per cent at 102.42 yen and the euro was steady at $1.384.

Source:
www.ctvnews.ca

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S&P 500 ends at record on jobless data

New York - US stocks mostly rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 closing at yet another record on better-than-expected jobless claims data and the European Central Bank's move to keep rates unchanged.

But the overall sentiment was cautious ahead of Friday's all-important US nonfarm payrolls report and tensions between Ukraine and Russia.

The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, ended up 2.3 percent at 14.21.The VIX generally moves inversely to the performance of the S&P 500 and is often used to hedge against a market decline.

Trading volume was also lower than average, with about 6.4 billion shares traded on US exchanges, according to data from BATS Global Markets, below the daily average of about 7 billion in the past month.

“We had a bit of a selloff in midday session and late afternoon, but the fact the S&P 500 managed to set another record shows how much resistance this market has to geopolitical overhang that is clearly not over, resistance to bad news,” said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in Bedford Hills, New York.

Thursday's milestone marked the S&P 500's fourth record closing high over the past six sessions.

Weekly applications for US unemployment insurance fell to 323,000, the lowest in three months, a sign of strength in a labour market that has been hobbled by severe weather. New orders for US factory goods, however, fell more than expected in January and shipments also slipped, adding to signs of a recent slowdown in manufacturing activity.

Friday's nonfarm payrolls report, due at 8.30am EST (13h30 GMT), is likely to show job growth in the United States picked up enough in February to encourage the Federal Reserve to continue scaling back its monetary stimulus. But the gain was likely to be tepid, given the unrelentingly harsh winter.

The day's biggest gainers were stocks in basic materials, financial and industrial sectors, often associated with strong economic fundamentals. The S&P basic materials index was up 0.4 percent, the S&P financial index was up 0.7 percent and the S&P industrials index was up 0.6 percent.

But the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.2 percent, led lower by Staples, which lost 15.3 percent to $11.35. The largest US office supplies retailer forecast a decline in sales. Staples also said it would close up to 225 stores in the United States and Canada by 2015.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 61.71 points or 0.38 percent, to end at 16,421.89. The S&P 500 gained 3.22 points or 0.17 percent, to finish at 1,877.03. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.848 points or 0.13 percent, to close at 4,352.125.

Crimea's parliament voted to join Russia and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum for 10 days' time on the decision in a dramatic escalation of the crisis in the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula.

US President Barack Obama took steps to punish those involved in threatening Ukraine while European Union leaders agreed to suspend visa and investment talks with Russia.

An index of Moscow stocks lost more than 2 percent after the vote in Crimea, but pared the losses and closed down 1 percent. The rouble weakened 0.3 percent versus the US dollar. A US-traded Russian ETF fell 1.1 percent to $23.37.

The European Central Bank decided not to take any action at its meeting on Thursday because economic and monetary conditions had not changed enough to warrant it. The euro hit its highest level against the US dollar since late December.

Among individual stocks, Costco Wholesale dropped 2.8 percent to $113.26 after the warehouse retailer reported a bigger-than-expected 15 percent decline in quarterly profit as unusually deep discounting in the holiday shopping season hurt margins. - Reuters

News Source: www.iol.co.za

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