US ratings cut impacts on Asian stocks

People learning how to be a trader may be aware of Standard & Poor's decision to reduce credit ratings for major US lenders, including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which has now had a negative impact on shares across the Asian market.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.5 per cent to 112.63 in Tokyo this morning (November 30th), potentially making it suffer a 7.5 per cent fall over the month, reports Bloomberg.

Seven out of the ten industry groups contained within the measure declined.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average slumped by 0.5 per cent despite an unexpected increase in industrial production for October and South Korea's Kospi Index slid 0.5 percent.

Koji Toda, chief fund manager at Resona Bank in Tokyo, admitted to the news provider that US rate cuts could have had an effect on investor sentiment but emphasised the importance of the eurozone.

"What investors are really paying attention to is whether policymakers are going to take steps to resolve the European debt situation," he said.

Chris Low from FTN Financial warned yesterday that issues with the common currency could affect Wall Street and other global markets.

Posted by Greg Secker