- Europe falls to its lowest level in 7 months
- Japan falls for the fourth consecutive session
European shares fell in early trading, Tuesday, to their lowest levels in seven months, as investors worried about the possibility of economic sanctions against Russia, which has ordered the deployment of troops in two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 1.7%, falling for the fourth consecutive session. The index is down about 10% from its all-time high in early January.
The German stock index DAX seemed more affected than other European indices due to Germany’s heavy dependence on Russian gas supplies and the lack of energy companies listed on the index, which fell by 2.2%.
The broader euro zone index fell 2.1%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 index fell 1.2%.
Investors are turning to relatively safe assets such as gold and government bonds, while the United States and its European allies are about to announce tough new sanctions against Russia.
While oil and gas stocks rose 0.7%, there were fears in the markets that higher commodity prices would add to inflation fears.
Auto stocks and banks were the worst performers among European stocks, falling 2.7% and 3.1%, respectively.
Japanese
Japan’s Nikkei index closed lower Tuesday for the fourth consecutive session as tensions escalated over Ukraine.
The Nikkei fell 1.71% to 26,449.61 points, but it made up for part of the 2.5% losses. The broader Topix index fell 1.55% to 1881.08 points, to close lower for the fourth session as well.
Shares of 199 companies out of the 225 companies listed on the Nikkei index fell, with the consumer services sector being the worst performer, and the basic materials and technology sectors also experiencing significant losses.
The health care and energy sectors were able to achieve gains, and the energy sector was supported by the rise in oil prices and the health care sector by the rise in the shares of the pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo by 9.55% after it announced positive results for its anti-cancer drug, which it jointly developed with AstraZeneca.
Chip maker Tokyo Electron was the worst performer on the Nikkei, down 4.04%. And competitor Advantest fell 4.80% and Renesas 5.53%.
Nissan auto maker shares fell 6.02% and Toyota 2.28%.
(Archyde.com)