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Strategies & Market Trends : Waiting for the big Kahuna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bonnie Bear who wrote (12774)	1/8/1998 5:15:00 AM
From: kas1	Respond to of 94695

ftse is slightly up now

To: Bonnie Bear who wrote (12774)	1/8/1998 5:24:00 AM
From: kas1	Respond to of 94695

all foreign-markets watchers, i've found this to be a helpful cross-compare of exchange rates of currencies that don't show up on the big currency quote screens (like the korean won): dna.lth.se also, here's an article from yahoo.com on what happened in hong kong last night: Thursday January 8, 4:10 am Eastern Time HK stocks stage late comeback but end sharply off HONG KONG, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks slumped to a sharply lower close on Thursday, battered by worries about regional economies and rising local interest rates, brokers said. The Hang Seng Index lost 284.08 points, or 2.98 percent, to end at 9,254.53 after hitting an intra-day low of 8,928.86. The index has fallen 1,426 points so far this week. The last time it dropped below 9,000 was October 28, 1997. ''It looks as if there should be some support around 8,800,'' said Miles Remington, sales trader at SocGen-Crosby Securities. ''But tonight a lot of people will be looking to the U.S. and if we start seeing the U.S. getting nervous, then we have got more problems.'' China plays suffered the largest blow, hit by worries that the Chinese economy is slowing down and that a devaluation of the yuan is in the cards. The China-Affiliated Corporation Index nose-dived 8.68 percent to 1,315 while H shares sank 8.43 percent to 539 after hitting a fresh low of 519.12. ''If it's the Chinese renminbi devaluation (rumour) which is mainly driving it down, then I think the bears are going to be sorely disappointed,'' said James Robertson, director at Salomon Smith Barney. He said the Chinese authorities have pushed through various measures to stimulate the economy, after which a devaluation of the currency would be admitting defeat. Shanghai Industrials (0363.HK) lost HK$2.45 to HK$22.00 and China Resources (0291.HK) ended HK$1.50 to HK$12.40. Although most Asian currencies found support in a firmer yen, the Indonesian rupiah continued its freefall, hitting record lows. In Jakarta, share prices collapsed 11.2 percent in the afternoon. Brokers also kept a watchful eye on Singapore, where the key index was down 7.5 percent, breaking the 1,300 support level in the afternoon. ''We're really seeing right now increased speculation that the Hong Kong dollar peg is going to be broken,'' said Steven Thompson, chief analyst at Nikko Research Center (HK). ''There's been warnings that there's a large amount of short Hong Kong dollar positions due to be fired in the next couple of weeks and people are putting one and one together and selling down the market.'' Hong Kong interest rates were punished and overnight rates surged to 5.00-8.00 percent from 4.25-5.00 percent at Wednesday's close. ''If the interbank rates maintain at the current high level there is a good chance that banks will raise the prime rate,'' said Patrick Chia, research director at China Everbright Research. Bank of East Asia Chairman David Li said on Thursday the bank's bad debt could rise in 1998 as customers find it more difficult to repay loans. Banking giant HSBC Holdings (0005.HK) was the biggest loser on Thursday, shedding HK$5.00 to HK$174.00. Cheung Kong (0001.HK) ended HK$2.80 lower at HK$40.80 and Hutchison Whampoa (0013.HK) fell HK$1.30 to HK$40.60. Utilities were less hurt as investors fled to defensive stocks with support in large cash flows and maintainable growth, brokers said. CLP Holdings (0002.HK) added HK$0.70 to HK$39.70.