Most Asian markets tumbled on Friday in the wake of one of Wall Street's biggest drops of the year, although European markets rebounded modestly from sharp losses the previous day.

 

Japanese stocks fell to nearly three-month lows, Philippine stocks marked their steepest decline in 10 years, and South Korea's benchmark index - which had hit a record on Wednesday - sank 4.1 percent, its biggest slide in more than three years. Chinese stocks, however, ended the day flat.

 

Investors in Asia were rattled after US and European markets plunged on Thursday amid worries over the US mortgage and corporate lending markets. Those woes could cause global liquidity to dry up as international investors pull out of riskier assets, including Asian emerging markets, analysts said.

 

"If big foreign funds have selling orders, they tend to go by region. If they sell Asia funds, they do it to reevaluate portfolios or cover losses in the US," said Rommel Macapagal, chairman of Westlink Global Equities, in Manila.

 

"But for local investors, it's a sentiment. When big drops occur, they tend to get jittery because of expectation of foreign funds selling. They tend to get out," he said.

 

"The big fall in New York stocks mainly has a psychological impact on China's stock market. The real impact is not very big because the liquidity of the A-share market remains very sufficient," said Chen Xingdong, chief economist from BNP Paribas Peregrine Securities Ltd.

 

According to Chen, three factors prevented China's A-share market from rising on Friday. "First, the A-share stock market already reached a record high on Thursday. Second, the government believes the economy is overheating and may take a series of control measures, and third, there is an impact from the big fall in New York."

 

"It will have little impact on the A-share market," Li Zhikun, senior analyst from China Jianyin Investment Securities Co Ltd said. "The fall in the American stock market was mainly due to a credit concern in the US financial system, and it will not have an impact on China's economy," he said.

 

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index sank 418.28 points, or 2.36 percent, to close at 17,283.81 - nearly a three-month low. Concerns about the yen's recent strength, which hurts exporters, and uncertainty over weekend parliamentary elections also weighed on the Japanese market.

 

The sell-offs in Asia came after stunning rallies in the region - markets in South Korea, China and India hit records just this week - and some investors viewed Wall Street's drop as a good opportunity to sell and lock in their profits.

 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.8 percent, while stocks in the Philippines tumbled 3.9 percent. Australia's benchmark index slid 2.8 percent Indian stocks were down over 3 percent.

 

But as the day progressed, key European markets, which had fallen sharply on Thursday in reaction to the slide on Wall Street, climbed higher on Friday.

 

The UK's FTSE 100 index, which had tumbled 3.2 percent on Thursday - its worst single-day percentage drop since March 2003 - was up 0.2 percent to 6,261.00. France's CAC-40 index gained 0.7 percent to 5,712.37, while the German DAX 30 index slipped 0.1 percent to 7,499.51.

 

US stocks plunged on Thursday amid mounting concerns that sluggish home sales and continued defaults in subprime loans would spur debt defaults and weigh on corporate earnings.

 

Investors also worried that higher corporate borrowing costs will curb the rapid pace of takeovers that had driven stocks higher this year.

 

The Dow Jones industrial average sank 311.50 points, or 2.26 percent, to 13,473.57, its biggest point drop since February 27, when a drop in the Shanghai market sparked a global rout.

 

At miday New York time, the NYSE Composite Index stood at 9547, down 106 points.

 

The drop in Japanese shares was aggravated by the yen's rise to a three-month high versus the dollar, which fell as low as 118.02 yen.

 

Later it recovered some to 118.56 yen, but that was still down sharply from 119.46 yen late on Thursday in New York.

 

"A stronger Japanese yen has a greater impact on today's Nikkei than overnight losses on US stocks," said Hiroyuki Fukunaga, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities.

 

(China Daily July 28, 2007)