Asian shares down after more bad news on Wall Street

Asian shares down after more bad news on Wall Street

 Updated at: 0903 PST, Monday, March 02, 2009
TOKYO: Asian stocks tumbled early Monday on the back of Wall Street's losing streak as gloom deepened over the global economy and the health of major banks.

Tokyo was down 3.2 percent by lunch and Sydney lost 3.0 percent by midday. Hong Kong opened 2.3 percent lower and Chinese shares were down 1.0 percent. Asian shares started the week on the downbeat note amid worries about the health of large US banks and broader fears over the global economy.

"The US economy is in the worst shape it's been for probably 50 or 60 years, so it's hard for equities to rally." The Dow has dropped 19.5 percent so far this year while Japan's Nikkei is down 17 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng is off almost 13 percent. Investors were disappointed by news of a 6.2 percent contraction in the US economy in the fourth quarter of last year that was far worse than the earlier government estimate of a 3.8 percent decline.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 hit the lowest intra-day level since December 2003. "Uncertainty is driving the market right now," Man Financial broker Anthony Anderson said. "There's uncertainty about the economy and about what the US government is going to do about the problems." Mining giant Rio Tinto was one of the hardest hit stocks, sliding 6.6 percent on fears its 19.5 billion US dollar tie-up with Chinese state-owned firm Chinalco may not go ahead. Rival BHP Billiton lost four percent.

Elsewhere in the region, Seoul fell 3.5 percent, Taipei shed 1.75 percent, Manila slipped 0.3 percent and Kuala Lumpur declined 0.5 percent.

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