A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – The Nasadaq stock index led Wall Street lower, as traders shrugged off data showing US unemployment claims fell to their lowest level since March 2008.
Many of the tech industry’s biggest hitters themselves got hit, as Infosys’s revenue warning sparked a spate of selling that forced the Nasdaq down 0.75 per cent (21.79 points), to 2,866.19.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 31.26 points (0.25 per cent) to 12,573.27 points.
The S&P 500 fell 6.69 points (0.50 per cent) to 1,334.76.
Earlier in the day the Labour Department reported 350,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the holiday-shortened week ending July 7. That was a decrease of 26,000 from the prior week’s upwardly revised number of 376,000.
LONDON – European equities sank and the euro hit a new two-year US dollar low, as sentiment was jarred by spiking Spanish bond yields and eurozone debt fears.
Madrid stocks slumped and Spanish 10-year bond yields surged back towards the danger level of seven per cent, as investor enthusiasm evaporated over the government’s 65 billion euros ($A78 billion) package of austerity measures.
The Spanish IBEX 35 index of top companies tumbled 2.58 per cent to 6,630.1 points. Shares in recently nationalised Bankia slid 9.33 per cent to close at 0.70 euros.
Elsewhere in Europe, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies fell 0.99 per cent to 5,664.43 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 dropped 0.53 per cent to 6,419.35 points while in Paris the CAC 40 fell 0.70 per cent to 3,135.18 points.
Rome’s FTSE Mib index dipped two per cent at 13,584 points, despite news of a successful 7.5 billion euro Italian government bond sale.
The European single currency, after falling to $US1.2167 – the lowest level since late June 2010, recovered slightly to $US1.2205.
HONG KONG – Asian markets plunged on growing fears of a regional slowdown after South Korea unexpectedly cut interest rates and Japan’s central bank failed to make major policy changes to boost growth.
Tokyo fell 1.48 per cent, or 130.99 points, to end at 8,720.01, while Seoul closed down 2.24 per cent, or 41 points, at 1,785.39.
Hong Kong stocks closed 2.03 per cent, or 394.76 points, lower at 19,025.11, amid concern over the Chinese economy. But Shanghai ended up 0.46 per cent, or 10.11 points, at 2,185.49, on hopes of government action to stabilise growth.
WELLINGTON – The NZX 50 Index rose 22.55 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 3,501.39.
