General sentiment seems to be that people were simply locking in profits today...if this was posted already my apologies...just don't have the time to read through all the posts...Bool.
World markets Monday:
tech stocks in trouble, dollar
down
TORONTO (CP) - Stock markets took a
tumble Monday with high-tech shares falling
hardest, while the Canadian dollar lost
one-third of a cent as traders interpreted
manufacturing statistics as hinting at lower
interest rates.
The Toronto Stock Exchange 300
composite index was on a downward track
all day, and closed with a loss of 105.54
points at 6,907.69.
On American markets, a fierce selloff in
technology issues drove the Nasdaq
composite index down 5.6 per cent, and
more than erased a 270-point gain in the
Dow Jones industrials, which closed down
53.36 at 10,440.53.
The Canadian dollar closed at 67.28 cents
US, down 0.33 cent, after Statistics
Canada reported that manufacturers'
shipments were down 0.4 per cent in
February.
"I'm still bullish on the Canadian dollar; I
think there's a lot of upside potential," said
Jeff Cheah, a bond and foreign-exchange
specialist at Standard and Poor's MMS in
Toronto.
The manufacturing report "doesn't give me
the impression that we're seeing an
economic slowdown," Cheah said. "Aircraft
and parts, together with the tobacco
industry, contribute most of the decline. If
you subtract those numbers out,
manufacturing activity actually rose 0.5 per
cent."
He noted ongoing speculation that the Bank
of Canada is keen to ease interest rates,
and moves in advance of a speech
Tuesday by central bank governor Gordon
Thiessen may have swayed the market.
However, Cheah said, with no sign of
inflation and continuing economic strength,
"the bank may have room to cut without
really hurting the currency."
On the TSE - which lost its embattled
president, Rowland Fleming, during the day
to "other interests" - solid gains in the
energy and gold groups - both up about
three per cent - were more than offset by
blood-letting in the tech stocks.
Among the conspicuous losers, JDS Fitel
lost $12.95 to $79.05, and Nortel dropped
back under the century mark, shedding
$5.25 to $96.35. ATI Technologies, Newbridge Networks and
Celestica all had big losses, as did Rogers Communications,
Seagram and Thomson Corp.
Bid.Com International, which joined the TSE 300 index last week
and announced Monday it had won a listing on the U.S. Nasdaq
market, was down $3.45 at $24.25.
The woes of Canadian technology issues paralleled a horror story
on Wall Street, as the Nasdaq lost 138.19 points to 2,345.85. That
was its second-steepest-ever drop in terms of points.
The Dow had cruised through 10,500, 10,600 and 10,700 early in
the day. But as investors saw the Nasdaq tumble with technology
shares, they began to sell blue chips, locking in a week of gains.
"I think it was the decimation of everything tech, everything Internet,
everything healthcare," said Larry Wachtel, a market analyst at
Prudential Securities.
"If you owned a big winner this year, you got whacked today. They
just got around to (selling) the extraordinary winners of 1999. It had
the ring of inevitability."
The Standard and Poor's 500 composite was down 29.49 at
1,289.52.
Among big loers in the tech sector, Dow component IBM was down
nearly $4, and AOL plunged almost $20 as the most active issue on
the Big Board.
Most Asian stock markets surged Monday, with the key index in
Hong Kong closing at its highest level in almost 18 months. Bucking
the trend was the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where prices slipped on
jitters about earnings prospects of high-technology companies.
In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index rose 276.14 points, or
2.2 percent, to 12,766.44, it highest close since Oct. 21, 1997. On
Friday, the index had soared 528.07 points, or 4.4 percent.
Brokers said foreign investors were continuing to buy blue chips on
mounting optimism about the economic outlook for Asia.
The index broke through the psychological important 13,000-point
barrier before retreating in the afternoon session on selective
profit-taking.
"Foreign funds were flooding into Asia," said Kingsway SW
Securities Ltd.'s analyst Patrick Yiu.
Indonesian shares also soared on a continued flow of foreign funds
into the market.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange's Composite Index rose 6 percent, or
28.615 points, to close at 508.147.
In the Philippines, a series of measures implemented by the central
bank to encourage bank lending propelled the main index Monday to
its highest level in 20 months.
The 30-company Philippine Stocks Exchange Index surged 122.34
points, or 5.5 percent, to 2355.98, The index's latest close is its
highest level since it reached 2,300.82 points on Aug. 26, 1997.
The Philippine central bank's cut in its key overnight rates Monday
and the 1 percentage-point cut in the minimum liquidity reserve
requirement of commercial banks Friday freed up billions of pesos
in the financial system.
South Korean shares also closed sharply higher as investors bought
blue-chip stocks on news of the restructuring of the country's biggest
conglomerates.
Traders said Daewoo Group's plans to announce its restructuring
program, including the sale of some of its operations, boosted the
market. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 41.45 points,
or 5.7 percent, to 766.59.
Tokyo's benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 177.37
points, or 1.05 percent, to close the day at 16,674.21. On Friday, the
index gained 124.50 points, or 0.74 percent.
The poor performance Friday in America's Nasdaq index, which
includes many high-technology shares, triggered selling of Japanese
hi-tech issues on Monday. The Nasdaq closed down 4.20 percent
on the week Friday.
Japanese precision machinery and electronic share prices have
languished since U.S.-based companies Compaq and Intel warned
last week that their earnings may not be as strong as expected.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar bought 118.16 yen, down 0.06 from late
Friday in Tokyo but above its late New York level of 118.02 yen on
Friday.
Elsewhere:
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed sharply higher on huge liquidity
inflows, traders said. The Straits Times Index rose 4.1 percent, or
72.39 points, to close at 1,842.31.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shares closed higher as investors'
sentiment on the region's financial markets turned positive. The
benchmark Composite Index closed at 615.42 points, up 16.01
points, or 2.7 percent.
SYDNEY: Australian shares closed higher, with the key index rising
to another all-time high following strong gains in the resources and
media sectors. The All Ordinaries Index rose 13.3 points, or 0.4
percent, to 3113.1, eclipsing the previous all-time closing high of
3099.8 set Friday.
TAIPEI: Share prices closed higher, The market's key Weighted
Stock Price Index rose 41.68 points, or 0.5 percent, to 7,623.18.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed higher for the
fourth straight session. The benchmark NZSE-40 Capital Index rose
7.03 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,212.81.
BANGKOK: Thai share prices closed higher as foreign cash
continued to buoy the market despite signs of some profit-taking.
The SET index rose 9.65 points, or 2.4 percent, to 412.19. |
