WELLINGTON: Asian stocks are likely to fall on Monday, Jan 31, with safer assets such as gold and bonds likely to benefit as unrest in Egypt continues to rattle world markets.
Futures markets are seen down after Wall Street's S&P 500 suffered its biggest one-day loss in six months on Friday, while the traditional flight-to-safety assets of gold and U.S. Treasuries rose.
Protests in Egypt continued on Sunday, as embattled President Hosni Mubarak met with army generals, while potential challenger Mohamed ElBaradei claimed a mandate to negotiate a new government. For more see
"For the global economy Egypt is less important, though it does matter for access to the Suez Canal, a key oil distribution route," ANZ Bank economist Sharon Zollner said in a note to clients.
"The greater fear is that the turmoil could spread to other Middle East countries, including even Saudi Arabia. If that happens, then all bets on oil prices are off," Zollner said.
Japanese markets are set to open lower on Monday, with Nikkei futures traded in Chicago 135 points below the last closing level in Osaka .
The Australian market is also looking at a sharp fall when trading starts at 2300 GMT, with share price index futures down 49 points or 1 percent to 4,708, a 66.9 point discount to the underlying close of the S&P/ASX 200 index .
The New Zealand stock exchange, the first Asia-Pacific bourse to open, saw its benchmark index fall 0.4 percent to 3,340.46.
The euro fell below $1.36 in early trade while the Australian dollar also suffered at the expensive of traditional safe havens such as the yen and U.S. Dollar.
Oil looks set to extend its gains, with Brent crude possibly cracking the $100 a barrel mark, while spot gold , traditionally the safe-haven of choice, will also likely rise. - Reuters
Futures markets are seen down after Wall Street's S&P 500 suffered its biggest one-day loss in six months on Friday, while the traditional flight-to-safety assets of gold and U.S. Treasuries rose.
Protests in Egypt continued on Sunday, as embattled President Hosni Mubarak met with army generals, while potential challenger Mohamed ElBaradei claimed a mandate to negotiate a new government. For more see
"For the global economy Egypt is less important, though it does matter for access to the Suez Canal, a key oil distribution route," ANZ Bank economist Sharon Zollner said in a note to clients.
"The greater fear is that the turmoil could spread to other Middle East countries, including even Saudi Arabia. If that happens, then all bets on oil prices are off," Zollner said.
Japanese markets are set to open lower on Monday, with Nikkei futures traded in Chicago 135 points below the last closing level in Osaka .
The Australian market is also looking at a sharp fall when trading starts at 2300 GMT, with share price index futures down 49 points or 1 percent to 4,708, a 66.9 point discount to the underlying close of the S&P/ASX 200 index .
The New Zealand stock exchange, the first Asia-Pacific bourse to open, saw its benchmark index fall 0.4 percent to 3,340.46.
The euro fell below $1.36 in early trade while the Australian dollar also suffered at the expensive of traditional safe havens such as the yen and U.S. Dollar.
Oil looks set to extend its gains, with Brent crude possibly cracking the $100 a barrel mark, while spot gold , traditionally the safe-haven of choice, will also likely rise. - Reuters
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