Zimpapers Logo

officials said the risk of a catastrophic radiation leak from an earthquake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant was rising.
The unfolding disaster in Japan has sent fear coursing through financial markets, hitting stocks and other riskier assets such as commodities while boosting safe-haven government debt, as investors struggle to get a fix on the scale of the crisis and the potential damage. Operators of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, 240 km north of Tokyo, dumped water from helicopters yesterday in an increasingly desperate attempt to cool overheating reactors at the plant.
“Fear is the only factor driving the market today and if you look at news about temperatures rising, things exploding, you are not going to trade calmly, right?” said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments.
European stock markets were seen falling for a seventh straight session, with financial bookmakers calling Britain’s FTSE 100 down 0,3 percent, Germany’s DAX down 0,5 percent and France’s CAC 40 down 0,8 percent.
However, US stock market futures rose 0,5 percent after worries about Japan’s worsening nuclear crisis sparked hefty losses on Wall Street overnight.
Finance ministers and central bankers from G7 countries were expected to discuss the impact of Japan’s deepening crisis in a conference call early today Asian time, but traders thought any joint intervention in currency markets was unlikely.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been wiped off global stock markets since Japan’s northeast coast was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami last Friday and several nuclear reactors began overheating.
The yen spiked around 4 percent against the dollar, initially driven by speculation that Japanese insurers would have to repatriate funds to pay for massive claims following last Friday’s quake. – Reuters.