Asian shares drop in midst of Euro concern

Individuals learning how to trade may have seen Asian stocks tail off for the third day running today (December 15th) as concern about the eurozone's debt crisis and economic slowdown in the major manufacturing centres of China and Japan spooked investors.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.6 per cent to 111.49 with almost five shares falling off for every one that went up, Bloomberg reports.

HSBC holdings fell by 1.4 per cent, while industrial giant Toshiba plunged by 3.8 per cent as confidence among Japanese manufacturers was eroded.

Naoteru Teraoka, general manager at Tokyo-based Chuo Mitsui Asset Management, told the news provider investment in Asia was highly vulnerable to the situation overseas.

"Europe's situation doesn't seem to be moving in a positive direction. The euro has fallen a lot against the yen, which is another headache for exporters," he added.

Cary Leahey of Decision Economics pointed out yesterday that the threat from agencies like Standard and Poor's to downgrade European credit ratings was having a negative effect on the global market and that events in France were of particular interest.

Posted by Clive Arneill