Asian Stocks, Euro Fall on Greece Exit Concerns

Asian Stocks, Euro Fall on Greece Exit Concerns

By David Yong - 2012-05-23T00:58:46Z

Enlarge image

Asian Stocks Slide

Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Pedestrians are reflected on an electronic stock board outside a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan.

Pedestrians are reflected on an electronic stock board outside a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Asian stocks fell, reversing a two- day advance, and oil declined on concern that Greece is making preparations to quit Europe’s currency union. Australian and New Zealand currencies slumped and the euro dropped.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) dropped 1 percent as of 9:58 a.m. in Tokyo. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.3 percent, after the benchmark erased gains in the final hour of trading yesterday. Oil declined 0.2 percent and copper fell 0.8 percent. The Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar both weakened 0.5 percent. The euro slid 0.2 percent, extending the biggest loss in 10 weeks yesterday.

Greece is considering preparations to leave the 17-nation currency, Dow Jones reported yesterday, citing former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos even as the Group of Eight nations urged the nation to stay in the euro zone. The concern overshadowed a report showing an improvement in U.S. home sales in April and heightened speculation Europe and China will step up efforts to bolster global economic growth.

“The comments watered down optimism ahead of the European summit,” said Kim Young Sung, a fund manager in Seoul at Samsung Asset Management, which manages $ 98.3 billion. “There is uncertainty whether the actions being offered by the EU today will prevent the Greek exit.”

The Australian dollar traded at a six-month low of 97.65 cents and the so-called kiwi reached 75.16 cents, a level not seen since mid-December. South Korea’s won retreated 0.6 percent to 1,171.05 per dollar.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Yong in Singapore at dyong@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

ForexNews.com