Asia down as Ebola scare hits Wall St., dollar rally on pause
Japanese stocks were knocked hard on Thursday as weak global manufacturing activity and an Ebola health scare in the United States spooked world markets, sending investors scurrying to the safety of U.S. bonds, the yen and gold.
The gloom is seen keeping Europe on the defensive, with spreadbetters forecasting Britain’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX each to drop as much as 0.2 percent, and France’s CAX to start 0.1 percent lower.
Japanese equities led the selloff in Asia, with the backdrop of concerns over global growth and a sputtering domestic economy pushing Tokyo’s Nikkei down a sharp 2.1 percent to three-week lows.
“Confirmation of a case of Ebola in the US has joined a growing list of bad news stories with geo-political tensions in Ukraine and Hong Kong, and growth concerns around China and Europe sapping risk appetite,” Niall King, sales trader at CMC Markets in Sydney.
The risk-averse mood benefited the yen and sent U.S. Treasury yields down. The dollar slipped back below 110 yen – a threshold breached for the first time since 2008 this week – and was down 0.2 percent at 108.71 yen.
The euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.2658, crawling further away from a two-year low of $1.2571 hit earlier in the week.
Traders were also focused on the European Central Bank meeting later in the session with the divergence of U.S. monetary policy with those of Europe and Japan now an established market theme.
In commodities, Brent crude oil fell toward $94 a barrel and spot gold rose 0.5 percent to $1,219.27 an ounce.
Source: Reuters- Asia down as Ebola scare hits Wall St., dollar rally on pause
