Markets Finish Lower On Greece Concerns and Slower Chinese Growth | March 6, 2012


The Australian equity market is pointed to a slightly weaker start to the trading day after negative news out of both Europe and China outweighed better than expected economic news out of the US.

The Dow finish the session down 14.76 points at 12951 while the S&P500 index slid 5.3 points to finish the day at 1364.33.

Earlier in the session the European stocks closed lower as continued concerns about the Greek debt swap deal.

The Institute for Supply Management’s released data showing that the rate of expansion in the services sector posted a gain of 57.3 in February.

The yen rallied against all of its trading counterparts overnight after the Chinese slashed its growth target to an 8 year low of 7.5 per cent boosting demand for the safety of the currency. The AUDJPY (see above chart) traded down from yesterday highs of 87.65 to as low as 86.66, at time of writing this report it was sitting at 86.97.

Gold has dropped for the second day after the announcement out of China curbing prospects for commodity demand and global growth.

The Volatility Index which is widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market traded up slightly to above 18.12.

INDICES
Last Traded
SPI 200 future 4252
S&P500 Index 1364.33
Dow Jones 12962.81
FTSE 100 Index 5874.82

COMMODITIES
Last Traded
Gold 1705.48
Oil (Nymex) 107.05

CURRENCIES
Last Traded
AUDUSD 1.0671
EURUSD 1.3221
GBPUSD 1.5862
USDJPY 81.45
Source
Bloomberg, Dow Jones News