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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 govern...

LONDON: HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, will tomorrow announce the closure of its troubled US mortgage lending operation to new business alongside plans to cut its dividend and raise more than £12bn in a deeply-discounted rights issue. The developments will underline the depth of the international financial crisis and, in the context of HSBC’s substantial operations in Asia, raise questions about the deteriorating health of the global economy. HSBC, led by Stephen Green, its executive chairman, will say that it is drawing a line under the continuing problems of HFC, the consumer finance operation in the US which has racked up billions of pounds in losses since it was acquired six years ago, by putting it into run-off. The bank plans to announce a two-for-five rights issue, underwritten by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Cazenove, which will be priced at about 300p, a discount of more than 40pc to Friday’s closing price of 491.25p. It will also cut its dividend by at least a third, according t...

Stocks set for drubbing U.S. stocks expected to tumble at the open as investors react to massive quarterly loss from AIG and bailout restructuring. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks could take a beating at Monday's open on Wall Street after American International Group reported a massive quarterly loss and a restructuring of its bailout by the government. At 7:52 a.m. ET, Standard & Poor's 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones industrial average futures were sharply lower. The Dow and S&P begin the week at their lowest levels in about 12 years, after tumbling last week on market anxiety over the state of the global economy and the world financial system. At its current rate of decline, the Dow could easily slip below its 7,000 mark on Monday. "There's a buyer's strike right now in the stock market," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. He blamed the decline in futures on "ongoing concerns about the global recession,...

NEW YORK: Global stocks this week was seen mixed, following the failing expectations of positive impacts of the US government deal relating to Citi Group. Dow Jones and Nesdak indexes this week eroded by 304 and 75 points respectively. On the other hand in Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei-225 index went up by 254 points. Similarly Hong Kong’s Heng Sang index wrapped up in positive zone, but Shanghai index lost 66 points and it closed at 2082 points. Besides in European markets, France’s index dropped by 103 points and Germany’s index by 214 points, while Britain FTSE-100 index melted down by 59 points during this week.

KARACHI: Finance Advisor Shaukat Tarin has said that the stock exchange crisis has died down and it was now on its way to recovery. Addressing a gathering here, Finance Advisor, Shaukat Tarin said that the government was gearing up the process of privatization for boosting foreign investment. He said that further $4.5 billion would be required for the improvement of balance of payments. Shaukat Tarin said that Pakistan economy being adversely affected in the war against terror.