First Choice Loan News
Supermarkets Declines Due To J Sainsbury
European equities markets saw considerable downfall on Friday as worries continued that banks will drop more due to the credit crunch and on new unemployment numbers out of the US Labor Department.
In London the FTSE 100 was down 2.26 percent to 5,240.7 in its biggest weekly decline since July 2002, while the FTSE 250 dropped 2 percent to 8,966.8.
UK supermarkets led the retail sector decline after Deutsche Bank (FWB: DBK; NYSE: DB) lowered its advise on Wm Morrison (LSE: WOS) from “buy” to “hold” and slash its rating on J Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY) from “hold” to “sell”.
Morrison was down 2.9 percent on the session while Sainsbury was 3.3 percent dropped.
Elsewhere in the region, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 2.24 percent as the Dax decreased 2.42 percent to 6,127.44, the CAC-40 was down 2.49 percent to 4,196.66 and the IBEX fell 2.97 percent to 11,139.7.
Asia-Pacific region equities markets were also saw downfall.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 dropped 2.75 percent to 12,212.23 while the Topix index was 2.56 percent lower to 1,170.84 and the Mothers market of small and mid-caps was down 1.34 percent to 424.5.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.55 percent to 1,404.38 while the Taiex decreased 1.64 percent to 6,307.28 and the Straits Times Index fell 1.97 percent to 2,574.21 in Singapore.
In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries was down 2.01 percent to 4,949.5 and the S&P/ASX200 dropped 2.06 percent to 4,877.1 while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng fell 2.24 percent to 19,933.28 as it drop below the 20,000 level for the first time since April.
The Sensex fell 2.79 percent to 14,483.83 while the Shanghai Composite decreased 3.29 percent to 2,202.45.
According to the new data from the Labor Department, the US missed 84,000 jobs in August, taking the unemployment rate to a five-year high of 6.1 percent, had Wall Street tracking down as recently as early afternoon.
However, by around 3 p.m. in New York only the Nasdaq Composite remained down, declining 0.6 percent to 2,257.75 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.25 percent to 11,216.08 and the S&P 500 was increased 0.24 percent to 1,239.74.
Crude oil prices were lower in the US jobs news, while base metals and precious metals with the exception of gold were declined as well. However, grains prices were also decreased.