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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bosco who wrote (9336)	9/16/1999 8:37:00 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

FOCUS-Asia stocks fall; Tokyo crushed by firm yen (Adds late stock index levels, new quotes) SINGAPORE, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Fears that a surging yen could stamp out a fledgling Japanese recovery rocked Tokyo shares on Thursday, while other Asian stock markets fell on concerns over U.S. interest rates. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei average ended at 17,291.59, down 2.73 percent. At one point it fell more than four percent, its biggest intraday drop of the year so far. ``If blue-chip exporters fare badly due to the strong yen, that could put the brakes on the recovery in the Japanese economy, which of course would hurt the performance of domestic demand-related companies,' said Masafumi Nakayama, a strategist at Mito Securities. Tokyo traders returned from Wednesday's public holiday to find the spry yen trading at the 104 yen level to the dollar, compared with Tuesday's Tokyo close of 106.55/58. Overnight in New York, the U.S. currency had dipped to around 103.25 yen, its lowest in more than three-and-a-half years. A robust yen shrinks the yen-based value of income earned in dollars abroad. The dollar was quoted at 104.05/10 yen at 0930 GMT. The market talked about a possible joint international action to stem the yen's strength. ``Up to now, Tokyo stocks had been relatively firm despite rises in the yen,' a senior dealer for a European bank said. This had allowed Japanese authorities to take a relatively relaxed stance towards the yen's ascent, but now that attitude may change, he said. In Hong Kong, Typhoon York closed stock and futures markets, while in Australia, higher interest rate fears spooked the benchmark All Ordinaries index (^AORD - news) down about 1.1 percent to 2,904.8. ``The biggest disappointment was the good (economic) figures in the U.S. overnight, Wall Street's rally and then its fall,' said Burrell & Co. dealer Richard Herring. The Dow Jones Industrial average (^DJI - news) slumped one percent on Wednesday to close at 10,801.42. The Nasdaq composite index fell 1.89 percent to 2,814.17. Singapore's Straits Times Index (^STI - news), which hit an early high of 2,118.10, slipped to end at 2,089.84, down 30.74 points or 1.45 percent. The market was plagued by concerns over potential U.S. interest rate hike and uncertainty in Wall Street. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 3.83 percent, or 36.53 points, to close at 916.16 as rising local interest rates battered overall sentiment and semiconductor shares faced heavy profit-taking. But brokers said the yen's strength limited the market's downside. Taiwan stocks ended flat after bargain hunting erased an early downturn blamed on Wall Street's overnight fall. Malaysia's blue-chip Composite Index (^KLSE - news) ended 0.90 percent lower at 711.25 on selling spurred by the Nikkei fall. Thai stocks (^SETI - news) fell almost two percent to 429.89 on the continuing slide of its baht currency. Shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange extended their losses in the afternoon on sustained speculative unwinding amid caution over the outcome in India's ongoing general elections. The Bombay Stock Exchange's key 30-share index was down 1.40 percent at 4,595.91 at 0940 GMT.