Asian markets down on euro woes

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian bourses tumbled Monday as funds fled to safe-haven investments after euro-zone finance ministers decided last Friday to delay a second tranche of aid worth 109 billion euros to Greece.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed for a holiday.

Gold, US Treasuries and the yen rose as investors exited the equity markets on fears that the escalating euro-zone sovereign debt crisis and the slow down in US economic growth would be a drag on global growth.

Spot gold jumped US$10.40 to US$1,821.78 per ounce while commodities declined as demand dropped. Oil for immediate delivery shed US$1.18 to US$86.78 per barrel.

US equity futures fell, with the S&P Index futures tumbling 1.64% while US Treasuries gained. The ringgit was quoted at 3.105 to the US dollar and 4.241 to the euro.

The local bourse's benchmark FBM KLCI shed 0.56% to 1,422.96 at 10.30am while Singapore's Straits Times Index fell nine-tenths of a percent to 2,764.38.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 2.32% to 19,004.37 and Shanghai's A share index shed 1.20% to 2,452.55.

At Bursa Malaysia, advancers outpaced decliners 180 to 178 while 227 other counters were traded unchanged. There were 142.47 million shares traded with a total turnover of RM215 million.

Commodity-related counters led declines in the local bourse. Sime fell 23 sen to RM7.77, PPB was down 14 sen to RM16.76 and BLD Plantation shed 12 sen to RM6.28.

Among Petronas-related counters, Petronas Gas fell 86 sen to RM13.82, Petronas Dagangan was 14 sen lower at RM17.20 and MISC was down 12 sen to RM6.70.

DiGi lost 56 sen to RM31.40, Dutch Lady was 20 sen lower at RM19.50 and Amway shed 14 sen to RM8.85.