|
BANGKOK - World stocks faced
multiple headwinds Friday after disappointing Japanese
earnings, higher unemployment in Spain and weak U.S. home
sales. Investors awaited quarterly growth figures from the
U.S. later in the day.
Benchmark oil hovered below
$100 per barrel while the dollar was lower against the euro
and the yen.
European shares headed lower
as the latest data from Spain, which already has the highest
unemployment rate among the 17 nations that use the euro,
showed more than 5 million people without jobs. The National
Statistics Institute said the jobless rate shot up from 21.5
percent to 22.8 percent in the fourth quarter.
Britain's FTSE 100 slipped
0.3 percent to 5,775.29. Germany's DAX was off 0.1 percent
to 6,531.89 and France's CAC-40 lost 0.4 percent to
3,349.82. Wall Street appeared set to open in negative
territory, with Dow Jones industrial futures down marginally
to 12,679 and S&P 500 futures falling less than 0.1
percent at 1,214.50.
Asian stock markets closed
mostly higher, ahead of the release of fourth quarter U.S.
economic growth figures. Economists predict growth will
strengthen to around 3 percent in the October-December
quarter from about 2 percent in the third quarter. Analysts
at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said the reading was
expected to "look healthy."
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell
0.1 percent to close at 8,841.22.
South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4
percent to 1,964.83. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent
to 20,501.67, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4
percent to 4,288.40.
Attention was also focused on
the resumption of talks to reach a deal on how Greece can
avoid a catastrophic default on its debt. Greece and its
bailout rescuers — other countries that use the euro and
the International Monetary Fund — are asking private
creditors to swap their Greek bonds for new ones with a
lower value and interest rate.
The two sides have so far
disagreed over what interest rate the new bonds should take.
In the U.S., stocks slipped
Thursday after the government reported an unexpected drop in
new home sales in December, capping the worst year for home
sales since record-keeping began in 1963. But there were
some bright spots. Orders to factories for long-lasting
manufactured goods increased in December for the second
straight month, and a key measure of business investment
rose solidly.
Japanese exporters continued
to be hit by a strong yen, which reduces the value of
repatriated profits. Honda Motor Corp. slid 1.9 percent and
Panasonic Corp. shed 2.3 percent. Fujitsu Ltd. plunged 3.5
percent.
Nintendo Corp., the Japanese
gaming giant behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games,
plummeted 4.1 percent, a day after it lowered its annual
earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss.
The company blamed the strong yen for much of the loss.
Japanese electronics company
NEC Corp. plummeted 7.1 percent after announcing Thursday
that it was slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide and would slide
into the red for the full year.
Benchmark oil for March
delivery was down 11 cents to $99.60 per barrel in
electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The
contract rose 30 cents to finish at $99.70 per barrel on the
Nymex on Thursday.
In currencies, the euro rose
to $1.3107 from $1.3104 late Thursday in New York. The
dollar fell to 77.05 yen from 77.49 yen.
|
