Asian stock markets were mostly down today as investors appeared to have been spooked by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's downbeat assessment of the US economic yesterday. In testimony to Congress, Bernanke said the outlook was "unusually uncertain", though he indicated that no imminent moves were planned to bolster the recovery. "It is pretty obvious looking at the way markets have been trading of late that there is a lot of uncertainty over the growth outlook," said Khoon Goh, senior economist at ANZ bank in Wellington. "But for the Fed chairman to admit it in such a direct manner does not exactly inspire confidence among investors." Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.8 per cent, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.7 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.2 per cent. At midday, the only eastern market to rally was China's Shanghai Composite Index, up by 0.2 per cent. The yen strengthened against the dollar as investors bought into the safe-haven Japanese currency. The dollar hit 86.43 yen - its lowest point since July 16. Read a full report at the Wall Street Journal Ben Bernanke’s downbeat forecast spooks markets
Business Digest: Shares down, yen stronger, after Fed chairman calls outlook 'unusually uncertain'
Read more: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/66196,business,ben-bernankes-downbeat-forecast-spooks-markets?DCMP=NLC-daily#ixzz0uPNJhRbV
Thursday, 22 July 2010
LAST UPDATED 9:24 AM, JULY 22, 2010
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