End of quarter blues (31-03-2008)

After the decline on Wall Street last Friday, markets have also been declining, starting with the Asia Pacific region overnight, which was down as banks and exporters.  

Financials losses spread throughout the region, as Mizuho fell by 4.7% and Citigroup Inc. plunged by 5.1% in Tokyo, while ANZ Banking Group stock lost 2.2% in Sydney, Industrial Bank of Korea shares lost 2% in Seoul, HSBC Holdings slipped 0.8% in Hong Kong. 

Exporters in Japan were also hurt as the yen strengthened, while the dollar lost ground at the same time. Oil prices eased as Iraq’s oil exports and refining operations have been restored. 

In Europe, banks and telecoms were leading declines from early morning trading as Merrill Lynch said it expected UBS to post a further $11 billion of first-quarter writedowns and Vodafone was downgraded by Morgan Stanley over potential EU regulatory action. 

Back over the Atlantic, U.S. markets were set to fall as futures were pointing downwards on the last day of the first, admittedly dismal, quarter as global markets declined, beginning a week of economic releases, which begin today with the release of a Chicago-area manufacturing poll, and ending Friday with the monthly jobs report and as markets wait for the Treasury’s regulatory proposals.

Source ISFM