BEIJING (AP) - World stocks slid Tuesday and Wall Street was expected to drop again amid concerns about the tech sector dragged down U.S. indexes the day before.
KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, Germany’s DAX index lost 0.9 percent to 11,144 and France’s CAC 40 shed 0.9 percent to 4,942. London’s FTSE 100 retreated 0.3 percent to 6,983. Futures for the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index were off 0.8 percent and those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.7 percent.
ASIA’S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.1 percent to 2.645.88 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.1 percent to 21,583.12. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 2 percent to 25,840.34 and Seoul’s Kospi retreated 0.9 percent to 2,082.58. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 was 0.4 percent lower at 5,671.80 and India’s Sensex declined 0.6 percent to 35,559.08. Benchmarks in Taiwan, New Zealand and Southeast Asia retreated.
WALL STREET: Apple, Microsoft and Amazon had sustained some of the worst losses on Monday as technology companies tumbled. Investors will focus again on that sector as Wall Street opens, as it has both led the charge in the recent years’ bull market and now appears to be the driving force behind the recent weeks’ volatility.
NISSAN: Shares in Nissan fell over 5 percent in Asia as traders there got their first chance to react to the news that Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who engineered a turnaround at the automaker, was arrested on charges he underreported his income and misused company funds and will be fired. Nissan said Ghosn and another senior executive, Greg Kelly, were accused of offenses discovered during an investigation set off by a whistleblower. Kelly also was arrested. The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance sold 10.6 million cars last year, more than any other manufacturer. Renault shares dropped 8.4 percent on Monday and another 2.5 percent Tuesday.
U.S.-CHINA TRADE: Investors focused on simmering trade tension between Washington and Beijing after the two governments clashed at a weekend conference. The two countries have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods in a fight over China’s technology policy. Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are due to meet this month at a gathering of the Group of 20 major economies. At the weekend meeting in Papua New Guinea, Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, criticized Beijing for intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and unfair trading practices.
ANALYST’S QUOTE: “The conviction for a bounce back into the year end for equity markets can be seen slowly diminishing as worries across a variety of issues entrench themselves,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a report. Pan said investors are shifting to safe havens.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 20 cents to $57.00 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 52 cents on Monday to $57.20. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 53 cents to $66.26 per barrel in London. It added 3 cents the previous session to $66.79.
CURRENCY: The dollar edged down to 112.36 yen from Monday’s 112.53 yen. The euro dipped to $1.1421 from $1.1454.
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