Lingering Greek concerns may weigh on Asian markets
Asian stocks look set for a mixed open with European stocks falling, but losses pared back in the US overnight on some better than expected […]
Asian stocks look set for a mixed open with European stocks falling, but losses pared back in the US overnight on some better than expected housing figures.
The Stoxx 50 took a whopping 2.8% fall, the FTSE down 2.5% and the Dax only slightly better, off 2.3%. There is growing concern around the likelihood of Greece exiting becoming a higher probability event.
The Euro dipped below 126 cents against the US dollar, last at 125.95. The Australian dollar was last buying 97.62 US cents while the dollar yen remained below 80, last at 79.46.
Asian economies are having their growth assumptions pared back.
Copper took another tumble overnight to fall back towards US$3.42/lb but the S&P500’s late rally could see the price improving slightly.
The S&P500 finished the session in positive territory, up 0.2%, the Dow Jones flat and the Nasdaq up 0.4%.
In corporate news, Indian firm Vikas WSP plans to invest more than 2 billion rupees to set up two plants, manufacturing guar gum products in Rajasthan to produce an end product in high demand from groups like Halliburton as part of their shale gas exploration activities.
Vikas, which has more than tripled in Mumbai this year, will use its own cash to fund the expansion.
In Australia, emerging lithium producer Galaxy Resources today announced its first sale of finished lithium processed product out of its wholly owned Chinese manufacturing facility.
Origin Energy announced its joint venture with Sinopec and ConocoPhillips have secured funding for its Australia Pacific liquefied natural gas project from a syndicate of banks, lead by Export-Import bank of China. The package provides funding in the order of US$8.5bn.