8:15AM New York, 8:30PM Hong Kong – Asian markets fell sharply as fears grip market sentiment.

Asian markets were battered across the region as investors withdraw from markets. South Korea led the region with a loss of 6.93% followed sharp declines of 6.6% in Malaysia, 6% in Philippines, 5.94% in Indonesia, 4.5% in Taiwan and India, and more than 3% in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Japan lost 2%.

In Sydney trading ASX 200 Index fell 76.5 or 1.32% at close to 5,711.50 after plunging 5.2% during the session. The sell-off in the Asian markets trading intensified as the worries related to the U.S. mortgage bonds sparked fears in the markets. Of the 201 stocks in the index, 147 stocks declined, 46 closed higher, and 8 were unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of Australia pumped $3 billion in liquidity in addition to A$5 billion added to the system on August 10th. The added liquidity in the market is not helping to calm nervous investors. Ram, home builder and lender, said that it is having difficulty in funding its short term loans worth A$6.2 billion. Australian dollar declined to 80.4546 to one American dollar, a decline of 2.1% and the yield on the 10-year bond fell to 5.88765%.

National Australia Bank fell 1.1%, ANZ Banking Group declined 2%, and Westpac Banking fell 1.5%. Macquarie Bank lost 4%.
Sigma Pharmaceuticals led the index stocks with a loss of 12% followed by losses of 9.7% in Sino Gold, 9% in Murchison and Monadelphous, and 7% in Western Areas, Alco Finance, and Babcock & Brown. Alinta fell 6% on 35 million shares. Spotless Group led the gainers in the index with a rise of 5% followed by increases of 4.7% in Tower Australia, 4.2% in Ansell, and 3.84% in Zinflex. Paladin Resources jumped 2% on 10 million shares. News Corp jumped 2.2% on 6.7 million shares. Brambles increased 0.6% on 17 million shares. Of the most active stocks Telstra declined 1.8% on 69 million shares trading volume followed by BHP Billiton with a loss of 0.6% on 37 million shares. Macquarie Bank fell 4% on 9 million shares. James Hardie fell 5.5%.

In Hong Kong trading Hang Seng fell 3.3% or 703.33 to close at 20,672.39 with the index losing 12% from the peak. The index has lost nearly 6% in the last three trading sessions. Turnover on the main board was recorded at HK$104.9 billion and on GEM market was at HK$750.8 million.

Banks led the decliners. China Construction Bank fell 5.3% followed by 3% fall in Bank of China. Only two stocks in the index gained. Hang Lung Properties and Li & Fung Properties.

Li & Fung jumped 5.1% to HK$26.18 after reporting first half profit increase of 38% to HK$1.05 billion. The sales increased 35% to HK$37.77 billion ($4.8 billion) and core operating income increased 41% to HK$1.2 billion. The company increased dividend to 21 cents from 16 cents a year ago. The company guided that it is on target to achieve its three-year plan goal to reach U.S. $10 billion in sales and will release the next three-year plan in March 2008.

Hang Lung Properties increased 0.2% to HK$24.20 after reporting earnings gain of 25% to HK$2.05 billion. For the year ended in June 30, 2007, revenue jumped to HK4.4 billion from HK$3.6 billion and earnings increased to HK$6.3 billion on property value increases of HK$5.9 billion from HK$4.5 billion on property increase of HK$3.4 billion a year ago. Earnings per share increased to 159 HK cents from 119 HK cents.

China Mobile fell 4% after reporting first half earnings gain of 26% to 37.9 billion yuan on higher value added services and new subscribers added in the smaller towns. Total number of subscribers increased by 31.2 million to 332 million lifting the revenue to Rmb166.6 billion an increase of 21%. The earnings gained 26% from a year ago to Rmb37.9 billion. The revenue from value added services jumped 35% to Rmb41.9 billion. Total number of subscribers increased 31.146 million at average monthly net additions of over five million. Majority of these subscribers are pre-paid subscribers.


08:00AM J.C. Penney posted Q2 profit increase and lifted full-year forecast.

J.C. Penney Co. (JCP: chart) posted nearly 2% earnings increase in Q2 to exceed analyst expectations and lifted its profit outlook for the full year. The department store retailer earned $175 million, or 78 cents a share, from continuing operations, compared with the year-ago continuing operations profit of $178 million, or 75 cents a share.

Quarterly sales rose 3.6% from a year ago to $4.39 billion. Analysts had expected a profit of 77 cents a share on sales of $4.42 billion. Looking ahead, J.C. Penney raised its full-year earnings forecast by a penny to $5.50 a share, above the average analyst estimates for $5.48. The stock slipped 3.3% in pre-market trading.


6:00AM New York, 7:00PM Tokyo- Asian stocks suffered heavy losses on heightened investor concerns over the U.S. credit market turmoil. Nikkei 225 dropped 2% and in the region South Korea plunged 7% leading the decliners.[/R

Asian shares were battered across the region as investors withdraw from markets. South Korea led the region with a loss of 6.93% followed sharp declines of 6.6% in Malaysia, 6% in Philippines, 5.94% in Indonesia, 4.5% in Taiwan and India, and more than 3% in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Japan lost 2%.

In Tokyo trading Nikkei 225 lost 1.99% or 327.12 to 16,148.49 led by declines in industrial shares. Over 20 stocks in the index fell more than 4%. Out of the 225 shares in the index 196 fell, 25 gained and 4 traded unchanged.

The Bank of Japan yesterday said it would withdraw 2 trillion-yen from the market, as anxiety over a potential credit squeeze paled into insignificance. BOJ had earlier sucked another 1.6 trillion-yen from the market, funds pumped during the global credit crunch since last Friday. Overnight rates had fallen to as low as 0.2%, suggesting liquidity positions had improved, bank officials said. The yen firmed to 116 against the dollar with fresh prospects it may touch 115 per dollar.

Mistumi Electric led the decliners in the Nikkei index with a loss of 7.3% followed by losses of 5.4% in Toshiba, 5.3% in Kirin Holdings, 5% in Konica Minolta, Sojitz Corporation, Nikon, and Nippon Light Metals. Credit Saison and Shisei Bank fell nearly 4%. Secom Company led the gainers in the index with a rise of 4.6% followed by gains of 4% in Sumitomo Trust, 3.5% in Toho Company, and 2.8% in Mitsubishi UFJ.