Asian Stocks Take a Dive

Prices plunge in response to US subprime mortgage crisis
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 27, 2007 7:52 AM CDT
Asian Stocks Take a Dive
The board at the Australian stock exchange is watched by interested people Friday, July 27, 2007. Australian stocks tumbled more than 2 percent in early trading Friday in the wake of a sharp drop overnight in the U.S. market. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)   (Associated Press)

Share prices plummeted throughout Asia  today in response to the yesterday's sell-off on Wall Street and the escalating crisis in the US housing market. After the 300-point plunge in the U.S., the Tokyo Market closed at a three-month-low, and markets in Seoul, Hong Kong, and Sydney also took serious hits. The market in Shanghai escaped relatively unscathed, buoyed by strong corporate earnings.

Tokyo trouble's were compounded by a strengthening yen—weakening exports—and political uncertainty leading up to elections. The dollar leveled off in Tokyo by the close of the market, however, slowing the free-fall. Still, market mavens are nervous. "We are not out of the woods yet," says the director of Merrill Lynch in Mumbai. (More housing market stories.)

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