The global financial turmoil continues, with another bruising trading day in Asia. Analysts say investors are worried the credit crisis in the United States will slow down the economy and hurt Asian exporters. Heda Bayron reports from Hong Kong.
The Japanese stock market reeled from another day of heavy selling Friday. The Nikkei 225 index plunged 5.4 percent to close at 15,273 - its lowest level in a year.
There was no let-up to this week's selling across Asia. South Korea's KOSPI fell three percent to 1,638. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell as much as five percent before recovering somewhat and closing down almost 1.4 percent. China's Shanghai Composite index ended 2.28 percent lower at 4,656.
Analysts say investors fear the U.S. sub-prime loan crisis could trigger a slow down in the U.S. economy, which could ultimately hurt Asian exporters.
Japanese exporters such as Honda, Canon and Toyota saw shares drop sharply Friday.
Yoshimasa Maruyama is an economist at investment bank BNP Paribas in Tokyo.
"The Japanese economy is depending on the U.S. economy so today the Japanese market was worried about U.S. consumer spending will go down because of the sub-prime problem and slow down the U.S. economy," Maruyama said.
Adding to Japan's woes, the yen reached a 14-month high against the dollar, making Japanese exports more expensive.
Over the past several years, many U.S. finance companies issued mortgages to people with poor credit histories. As U.S. interest rates have risen, many of those borrowers have defaulted, and some lenders have gone bankrupt, creating a credit problem in the United States.
Many investors are selling their shares because they fear the problem will spread to other companies and make it hard for businesses to borrow cash for their operations.
The crisis has triggered global stock market volatility in the past two weeks. Worries of a credit squeeze have prompted central banks in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan to inject billions of dollars into the money markets to raise liquidity and market confidence. On Friday, the Bank of Japan injected $10.5 billion into the system.
|
|
亚洲股市星期五普遍下滑，世界金融市场继续呈现动荡局面。分析人士认为，美国的信贷危机将减慢经济发展速度，并使亚洲国家和地区的出口商遭受打击。
日本股市星期五仍然持续抛售局面，日经指数大跌5.4个百分点，以15273点作收，这是一年来的最低点。
在亚洲其他股市，本星期的抛售之风都没有减弱。韩国股市指数星期五下跌3个百分点，收盘时为1638点。香港恒生指数的跌幅一度达到5个百分点，此后有所回升，收盘时的跌幅为将近1.4个百分点。中国的上海综合指数下跌2.28个百分点，以4656点作收。
分析人士说，投资者担心美国的次级信贷危机可能导致美国经济下滑，最终殃及亚洲出口商。星期五，日本的本田、佳能、丰田等出口厂商的股票价格大跌。
法国巴黎银行驻东京的一位经济分析师说：“日本经济依赖美国经济。今天日本股市担心美国的消费者支出会由于次级信贷问题而缩减，从而导致美国经济下滑。”
星期五，日元对美元的比价达到14个月来的最高点，使得日本出口商品的价格进一步升高。
过去几年来，很多美国金融公司向信用记录不良的人发放贷款，以至美国利率升高之后很多借贷者无法按期付款，结果一些信贷公司破产，使美国面临信贷问题。
很多投资者抛售股票，原因是他们担心信贷问题将波及其他公司，而这会使企业难以贷到维持运营的资金。
两星期来，全球股市由于美国信贷危机而动荡不安。美国、欧洲、澳大利亚和日本的中央银行担心出现信贷紧缩，因此向金融市场注入巨额资金，以促进资金流动和提高市场信心。星期五，日本银行向金融市场投放了15亿美元。 |
