Markets in Asia, Europe down

Asian and European shares dipped on Wednesday as markets continued to battle jitters over a credit crunch started by problems in the US subprime credit sector and as broader concerns emerged about the US economy. In Asia, Tokyo and New Zealand benchmarks tumbling to their lowest closes in nine months. In Europe in morning trade, the UK’s FTSE 100 index fell one per cent, France’s CAC 40 benchmark fell 1.4 per cent, and Germany’s DAX fell 0.7 per cent.
Some economists and dealers said the gyrations on Asian stock markets were short-term. Some issues could even be good bargains, they said, given the strong growth and earnings data from China, Japan and other regional economies. The Nikkei 225 stock index, the benchmark for Asia’s biggest stock market, plummeted 369.00 points, or 2.19 per cent, to 16475.61, its lowest since December 8, as financial issues got hammered by the nervousness about a fallout from the US subprime mortgage crisis.
Japanese export issues also took a battering from the strong yen. Worries have been growing about a slowdown in the US economy, fueled by faltering pro-fit forecasts by major retailers. Weak American spending would be a blow to the Japanese and other Asian economies, which are all still heavily dependent on exports to the US.