Forex Special - Equities over the Asian session are mostly lower Thursday, tracking losses on Wall Street due to soft economic fundamentals. Market sentiment plummeted over New York as durable goods and the Fed’s Beige Book release brought signs of a slow recovery, bringing recession fears back into focus and overshadowing any optimism in the corporate sector.
Currently the Japanese Nikkei is off by more than 50 points or 0.54%, while the Hang Seng is down 0.29%. The Shanghai Composite on the other hand is holding on to modest gains at 0.45% after bullish commentary out of China spreading the idea that any government tightening measures have hit their peak.
The Japanese market is pressured lower today due to profit-taking and a subdued risk appetite, however is being supported from any drastic movement by recent strong earnings in the corporate sector. Moreover, stock prices for Sanyo have soared this morning after speculation spread that Panasonic Corp would be incorporating the subsidiary into a wholly-owned unit.
