Investors despair as Asian markets tumble(Hang Seng crashing by 8+%)

Reuters ^ | 01/22/08 | Denny Thomas

[TigerLikesRooster]

Investors despair as Asian markets tumble

By Denny Thomas Reuters - 22 minutes agoSYDNEY

(Reuters) - Investors across Asia stared in disbelief and counted the cost to their pensions and savings as stock tickers showed markets tumbling on Tuesday on fears that a recession in the United States would rock the rest of the world.

(Advertisement) "I just feel sick, very sick," said retired IT manager Peter Hurst, 61, from Melbourne, who relies on investment income as well as his pension.

The market meltdown across Asia, following big losses in Europe on Monday and signals in the futures market that New York would see a sharp sell-off when it reopens, wiped billions of dollars off the value of companies and triggered panic selling among small investors, many of whom had bought only recently in the hope that markets had bottomed out.

"Most of your gains you make in a year, you lose in one day. If you're caught in the market, you lose your pants. Now, cash is king," said Robin Lim, 43, a seafood trader in Singapore.

Stock markets in Asia tumbled 4-8 percent on Tuesday, with India crashing more than 12 percent and Australia suffering its biggest one-day fall ever.

Frenzied trading by worried investors caused Australian online broker Commonwealth Securities' Web site to seize up, while the South Korean exchange suspended automated trading and India's market was suspended for a while after the sharp falls.

Even old hands of the financial industry were floundering.

"It's like a funeral in here," said Ken Masuda, senior equities dealer at Shinko Securities in Tokyo. "No one knows what's going to happen tonight in New York. It's like we've gone blind, you don't know what's coming ... all we can do is sell."

"DEADLY MARKET"

Waves of bad news have battered world markets since the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis erupted last year, and its effects have spread into the real economy, hitting companies and investors. Billionaire investor George Soros told an Austrian newspaper the world was now facing its worst financial crisis since World War Two.

"This market is deadly -- you'd better stay out of it," said retired sales manager Peter Chan, 64, who sat with other stock punters at a brokerage in bustling downtown Hong Kong.

"I'm a pensioner and I can't afford huge losses," Chan added, as the subdued investors whispered anxiously and prodded at keyboards in the hunt for stock quotes.

As the benchmark Hang Seng index broke below 22,000 points, the punters began frantically conferring with each other.

"I lost quite a bit of money," said Shoba Moorjani, a woman in her 30s who came to Hong Kong just a year ago hoping to make a killing through stock investments.

Across the South China Sea, in a Taipei trading room of Fubon Securities, a couple of dozen glum-faced investors stared at a large screen on the wall awash in green -- the local colour code for stock losses.

Across town, a woman surnamed Lin at a branch of E.Sun Securities said she had lost more than T$50,000 (795 pounds) in just two hours of trading as the main TAIEX index slid more than 5 percent.

"Every time the market plunges, it should be a great buying opportunity," she said. "But I just don't have enough money now."

Others also tried to put a brave face on the market rout.

"Definitely, I'm nervous and it's a bit concerning for a retiree like me. But I think the market will bounce back," said 59-year-old Sydney retiree David Lindeman.

(Additional reporting by Alison Leung in Hong Kong, Baker Li in Taipei, Baizhen Chua in Singapore and Victoria Thieberger in Melbourne; Editing by Jonathan Standing & Ian Geoghegan)

($1=A$1.17)

[TigerLikesRooster]

Symbol	Name	Last Trade	Change	Related Info
^AORD	All Ordinaries	5,222.00 12:11AM ET	408.90 (7.26%)	Components, Chart, More
^SSEC	Shanghai Composite	4,559.75 2:00AM ET	354.68 (7.22%)	Chart, More
^HSI	Hang Seng	21,800.20 2:58AM ET	2,018.66 (8.48%)	Components, Chart, More
^BSESN	BSE 30	16,356.66 2:58AM ET	1,248.69 (7.09%)	Chart, More
^JKSE	Jakarta Composite	2,247.16 3:12AM ET	238.72 (9.60%)	Components, Chart, More
^KLSE	KLSE Composite	1,439.49 Jan 18	21.22 (1.45%)	Components, Chart, More
^N225	Nikkei 225	12,573.05 2:00AM ET	752.89 (5.65%)	Chart, More
^NZ50	NZSE 50	3,607.13 Jan 21	39.77 (1.09%)	Components, Chart, More
^STI	Straits Times	2,762.11 7:13PM ET	155.04 (5.31%)	Components, Chart, More
^KS11	Seoul Composite	1,609.02 1:02AM ET	74.54 (4.43%)	Components, Chart, More
^TWII	Taiwan Weighted	7,581.96 12:46AM ET	528.24 (6.51%)	Chart, More

[Choose Ye This Day]

“Every time the market plunges, it should be a great buying opportunity,”

She got that right.

[Rummenigge]

this is not over yet.

[Ymani Cricket]

I dub 2008 as bargain shopping year.

[cornfedcowboy]

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures.html

Dow futures down 650 pts. Hang on.

[RSmithOpt]

I think trading will be halted in NY by noon, easy. Folks, the govs and the banks are shaking in their boots. Once again deceit and greed (artificial housing boom fueled by the government dictated / mandated subprime ‘give away’) bring us to this day. Again, an orchestrated scenario as to skim returns off the top from the average investor.

[VanShuyten]

Early trading in Europe was down sharply, but has rebounded, with the UK actually up.

[familyop]

Well, importers who harass the Fed. won’t have inflation as an excuse to keep the rate from being cut by quite a bit on January 30th. And reasonable people aren’t buying the tax scheme. On the other hand, though, our leadership hasn’t been very reasonable, lately.

[Rummenigge]

- Housing prices haven’t even started to decline like expected. A giant sector of the economy is going into deflation.

(my Opinion because: Housing owners willing or having to sell waiting for the time they can for a better market, that will certainly not come during this year)

- Banks will still have to write of more then we or they know - until this doesn’t end there will be no trust in this market.

Banks earn their money buy taking up money short term on low interests and lending it further on high interests in the long shot.

That means interest will have to fall to help these guys. Intersts are allready low and lowering them further is going to lead into inflation so there’s not much to be expected from the fed.

There’s still a downside for financial stocks.

[gpapa]

526 as of 4:02 am est. Still a big number though. The investor class will not be happy, probably all the way to November.

[Caipirabob]

Billionaire investor George Soros told an Austrian newspaper the world was now facing its worst financial crisis since World War Two.

And everyone knows he's looking out for your best interest, right? : p

[Uncle Ike]

” the govs and the banks are shaking in their boots. “

Just heard a shudder-causing phrase on CNBC — “...selling shares to cover margin calls....”

Some evil history to that phrase....

[Ymani Cricket]

nice rebound. Looks like mainly the China bubble deflating some now.

[kipita]

I think trading will be halted in NY by noon, easy. Folks, the govs and the banks are shaking in their boots. Once again deceit and greed (artificial housing boom fueled by the government dictated / mandated subprime ‘give away’) bring us to this day. Again, an orchestrated scenario as to skim returns off the top from the average investor.

Wow--a brilliant mind that speaks the truth!

[RSmithOpt]

Good analysis. Now apply that on a global scale to the US debt, OPEC oil profits, Chicom / Asian trade surpluses. Get the picture? The guru’s running things simply and seriously overextended the ‘lending’ of capital to help the US economy service its debt in 2005-2007, and fund the WOT. Look for investment groups of foreign nations like UAE, Kuwait, China etc. to come in and snatch up US new homes to a degree as their hedge companies go long for the next real estate cycle. ITM, the gov and MSM will play it all like it’s W’s fault, the GOP, etc.

[RSmithOpt]

See post #15.

[kipita]

Good analysis. Now apply that on a global scale to the US debt, OPEC oil profits, Chicom / Asian trade surpluses. Get the picture? The guru’s running things simply and seriously overextended the ‘lending’ of capital to help the US economy service its debt in 2005-2007, and fund the WOT. Look for investment groups of foreign nations like UAE, Kuwait, China etc. to come in and snatch up US new homes to a degree as their hedge companies go long for the next real estate cycle. ITM, the gov and MSM will play it all like it’s W’s fault, the GOP, etc.

Wow—a brilliant mind that speaks way over my head!

[Riley]

Over mine, as well. I am a relative neophyte in finance, but I am looking to buy a house soon. I’m trying to sift through the financial posts and determine whether it’s a good time or an awful time. Assuming I can get funded at all, of course.

[flaglady47]

“Just heard a shudder-causing phrase on CNBC — “...selling shares to cover margin calls....”

To a novice, what does this mean? In laymen’s terms.

[RSmithOpt]

Ya think Ike? Question is will the circuit breakers even really do anything this time? This week on The Street will not be forgotten. The world’s collective debt is / has been being trace down. In order to survive their calls on their markers, the big banks are tapping the shoulders, breaking the knee caps of those beholding to them. Thus, the selling of shares to cover the margins. The cash has to come from somewhere. Those entities with capital sitting and waiting will get in after the shakeout and go long on certain companies.