La Crisis de la Deuda en Europa , seg{un el telegrafo

Greece acts to stop speculators as debt crisis escalates

Greece has moved to stem panic in the country and stop speculators taking advantage of its escalating debt crisis.

By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 9:30AM BST 28 Apr 2010

A global market sell-off spread to Asia on Wednesday, sending the region's stocks lower amid fears the worsening European debt crisis will slow a global recovery. Japan's Nikkei index fell 2.5pc and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.2pc. Photo: AP

The troubled country triggered a sell-off in global markets after its debt was yesterday slashed to junk status, making it harder to pay down its deficit and raise money to fund its budget.

Fear of contagion from Greece was heightened by a cut in the credit rating of Portuguese government debt.

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This morning, the Greek regulator banned speculators from shorting the Athens market - trying to make money from betting shares will fall further - after widespread selling which saw London's FTSE 100 tumble 2.6pc, Germany's DAX 2.7pc, and France's CAC 3.7pc.

This spread to New York where the Dow Jones dropped 1.9pc before moving to Asia, where Japan's Nikei index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.5pc and 1.2pc respectively.

The sell-off continued in Europe in early trading after an uneasy halt as investor took stock as markets opened. Major markets in London, German and France were down around 1pc.

Southern European markets were hard hit, with Portugal tumbling 6pc and Spain 3pc.

Lorraine Tan, director of equities research at Standard & Poor's in Singapore, said "The fear is that Greece and Portugal are just the appetizers.

"The concern is it is going to spread and have an impact on the financial system and ultimately on the economy."

As a further indication of investor jitters, the premium being demanded to hold Greek government bonds jumped to its highest since late 1996.

ASIAN MARKETS, OIL FALLS

The worsening European debt crisis rattled Asia, as stock markets across the region fell and oil slid to near $82 a barrel.

Tokyo's Nikkei-225 index was down 287 points, or 2.5pc, by lunchtime at 10,924.75 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 260 points, or 1.24pc, to 20,998 points.

South Korea's Kospi index fell 1.2pc to 1,728.25 while the losses were more restrained in Shanghai, which dipped 2.32 points to 2906.

Concerns about Europe, which remains the largest market for Asian exports, increased after Standard & Poor's, the rating agency, downgraded Greece's debt to junk status and hit Portugal's rating with a two-notch cut.

The concerns about Europe overshadowed a strong set of earnings from Japanese companies, showing a fragile recovering is underway in Tokyo.

OIL TRADERS EYE EUROPEAN WOES

Meanwhile, US crude oil for June delivery fell 27 cents to USD82.17 a barrel, touching a $2 drop over its last two trading sessions.

Analysts said oil traders were taking note of a possible economic crisis in Europe and that the market had reacted to new inventory figures from the US, which showed that stockpiles were up 5.3m barrels in the week ending April 23.

"Market sentiment remains fragile and there is a possibility that if we have more adverse economic news we could see prices decline further," said David Moore, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, adding that US demand for oil was weak.

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