Asian shares extend losses, Greece fears grow

HONG KONG—Asian markets tumbled Tuesday after Wall Street slumped to its lowest level for more than a year as fears grow that Greece will default and the eurozone debt crisis will spread.

Tokyo fell 1.05 percent, or 89.36 points, to 8,456.12, while Seoul slumped 3.59 percent, or 63.46 points, to 1,706.19.

Sydney ended 0.64 percent, or 24.9 points, lower at 3,872.1 and Hong Kong slumped 3.40 percent, or 571.88 points, to 16,250.27, its lowest close since the end of April 2009.

Shanghai was closed for a public holiday.

The losses followed another slump on Wall Street, where the Dow shed 2.36 percent on Monday to finish at its lowest level since September 2010. The S&P 500 fell 2.85 percent and the Nasdaq lost 3.29 percent.

European stock markets, which also fell sharply Monday, added to those losses on Tuesday.

London’s FTSE 100 index shed 1.40 percent, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 dropped 1.72 percent and in Paris the CAC 40 slid 1.49 percent.

Eurozone finance ministers on Monday said they would once again delay releasing a much-needed eight billion euros to Greece to help it meet its debt obligations, saying it needed to do more to qualify for the cash.

Athens had admitted at the weekend it would miss its deficit targets, adding to uncertainty over whether it would secure the next tranche of its multi-billion-euro bailout.

Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said Monday that eurozone partners had asked the Greek government to take steps to ensure further savings in 2013 and 2014.

That would then lead to a “definite and final decision in the course of October” because Greece said it does not need the blocked loans until November.

However, traders panicked despite Juncker saying any suggestion that Greece would be allowed to default on its debts was “firmly denied”.

“The economic plight of Greece remains the key market-moving theme, as market participants continue to ponder the economic future of a nation seemingly on the verge of collapse,” Chris Gore, currency strategist at GoMarkets in Melbourne, told Dow Jones Newswires.

On currency markets, the euro, sank to fresh lows against the dollar.

The unit bought $1.3158 from $1.3178, its lowest since January, while it edged up slightly to 100.98 yen from a 10-year low of 100.96 yen in New York.

It edged up slightly to 1.2140 Swiss francs from 1.2137.

The dollar bought 76.66 yen from 76.59 yen.

Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi on Tuesday called for the swift passage of the rescue package for Greece to reassure markets and help stem the yen’s recent surge against the euro, which is hammering the country’s exporters.

“We are seeing an extremely high yen and a weak euro,” Azumi told reporters.

“The sense of uncertainty cannot be wiped out unless (euro member states) clearly show the market they are swiftly implementing the assistance scheme for Greece.”

Adding to the impetus to sell are concerns that Belgium’s Dexia bank, which needed to be rescued in the 2008 financial crisis, was in danger of being the first major European lender to become a victim of the sovereign debt crisis.

The bank’s shares lost a massive 37 percent in early trade Tuesday – on top of Monday’s 10 percent fall – on warnings of an imminent credit rating downgrade and wider fears of bank exposure to eurozone sovereign debt.

France and Belgium have announced they will “step in” if needed to save the troubled lender but the issue has highlighted concerns of a domino effect throughout Europe’s banking system, which could spark another global downturn.

Oil continued to fall on demand fears. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, fell $1.43 cents to $76.18 per barrel in the afternoon.

Brent North Sea crude for November delivery shed $1.01 to $100.60.

By 1030 GMT gold was at $1,669.25 an ounce.

In other markets:

— Mumbai fell 1.77 percent, or 286.59 points, to 15,864.86

State Bank of India fell 4.08 percent to 1,786.7, Coal India fell 4.98 percent to 319.75 rupees while private bank ICICI Bank closed down 4.59 percent to 800.7.

— Singapore’s Straits Times Index closed down 90.38 points, or 3.45 percent, to 2,531.02.

DBS Group fell 5.97 percent to 10.87 and Keppel Land shed 6.50 percent to 2.30.

— Bangkok fell 1.59 percent, or 13.86 points, to 855.45.

Banpu gained 14 baht to 514, while Siam Cement lost 6 baht to 242.

— Kuala Lumpur shares shed 6.14 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 1,361.38.

Gamuda fell 1.8 percent to 2.80 ringgit, Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering lost 3.1 percent to 5.01 and MSM Malaysia eased 1.1 percent to 4.48.

— Manila fell 0.93 percent, or 35.91 points, to 3,829.92.

SM Prime Holdings dropped 2.38 percent to 11.50 pesos, while Lepanto Consolidated Mining bucked the trend to finish 1.72 percent up at 1.18 pesos.

— Indonesian shares plunged 79.26 points, or 2.37 percent, to 3,269.45.

— Taipei rose 0.48 percent, or 33.90 points, to 7,047.87.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.73 percent higher at Tw$69.1 while leading smartphone maker HTC added 1.36 percent at Tw$672.0.

— Wellington edged up 0.14 percent, or 4.65 points, to 3,320.39.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare jumped 4.0 percent to NZ$2.60 but Sky City fell 2.1 percent to NZ$3.26.