WRAP Asian markets plunge after last week's Dow decline ADDS Hong Kong
(22 Oct 2007) SHOTLIST Tokyo, Japan 1. Wide of interior of Tokyo Stock Exchange 2. Close-up inverted sign reading: (English) "Tokyo Stock Exchange" 3. Man working at computer on trading floor 4. Various of screens showing the drop in share prices 5. Wide of interior of stock exchange Seoul, South Korea 6. Wide of stock floor at Korea Stock Exchange with a graph in foreground showing stock price graph 7. Various of screens showing stock prices 8. SOUNDBITE: (Korean) Lee Young-gon, Analyst at Hanwha Securities: "There have been worries that the United States would face an economic slump, and also oil prices have continued to soar. In this situation, investor sentiments are hurt. Especially when the Asian market continued to rise, and now it's been falling back a little in China and Hong Kong. The Korean stock market has received negative influence by them." 9. Various of screens showing share details 10. Entrance of Stock Watch Hong Kong 11. Wide pan of trading floor of Hong Kong Stock Exchange 12. Various of screens showing drop in Hang Seng Index 13. Wide of dealers on trading floor 14. Set-up of Francis Lun Sheung-Lim, general manager of Fulbright Securities Limited 15. Close-up of computer monitor showing stock statistics 16. Close-up of hands typing 17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Francis Lun Sheung-lim, General Manager of Fulbright Securities Limited: "And then in the US market, the negative factors converged to cause the Dow Jones fall 366 points on Friday. But don't forget in terms of percentage, the decline's really, not really significant." 18. Traders working at desks STORYLINE: Asian stocks plunged on Monday, dragged down by last week's decline on Wall Street and on the yen's strength against the US Dollar. Traders pinned hopes on bargain-hunting to buoy markets later in the day. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index lost 3.20 percent to 16,277.10 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by the close of morning trade on Monday. In Seoul, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index was down 3.8 percent at 1895.25 by midday. Earlier in the session the Kospi fell as much as 4.8 percent before paring losses. Stocks were also down in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan. "There have been worries that the United States would face an economic slump, and also oil prices have continued to soar," analyst Lee Young-gon, told AP Television on Monday. "In this situation, investor sentiments are hurt," he added. In Hong Kong the blue chip Hang Seng Index fell 2.5 per cent to 28,720.83 in the morning session, making up some losses after it opened down 3.5 percent at 28,427.99 in heavy trade. Analysts said the slight rebound was due to bargain-hunting by investors looking to buy back into the market, after selling out when the index hit a record 30-thousand last Thursday. Francis Lun Sheung-lim, General Manager of Fulbright Securities Limited, said the loss was not significance and the market, underpinned by the strength of the Chinese economy, was strong. "I think investors are confident enough that the market will regain all the loss ground, if not today, then tomorrow. This is only a small adjustment. It's nothing to worry about. There's certainly no panic in the market," he added. He forecast that the market would return to the 29-thousand mark during the week and could reach the 30-thousand mark. Hong Kong financial markets were closed on Friday for a public holiday. The Dow was down for the fifth straight session and was off 4.05 percent for the week. The losses in Asia appeared to be across the board. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
