Shares are lower for the sixth day in seven after a torrid morning in Japan where the Nikkei tumbled more than 6% for a second day following an explosion at a nuclear facility.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 38 points or 0.8% at 4588 but trading above yesterday's three-month low. A broad decline saw all sectors dragged lower. The resource sectors were stronger than most, despite further heavy losses for uranium stocks.
"The issues which have impacted our market late last week, and in particular yesterday, are certainly carrying over into today, and there's no clearer picture to alleviate that uncertainty that hovers around markets," Shaw Stockbroking senior dealer Jamie Spiteri told Fairfax. "With Tokyo down by over five per cent at the moment, it is an ongoing contributor to that level of uncertainty that overhangs equity markets at the moment, and while there's uncertainty there's funds which are being liquidated out of the market at present."
A third explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, 250 kilometres north of Tokyo, this morning raised fears of a major nuclear incident. The Nikkei tumbled 6.2% in early trade, matching yesterday's intraday fall, and was recently trading 6% lower. Shanghai fell 0.7% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.3%. Dow futures were recently at -86.
Crude oil futures slumped 98 cents this morning to $100.62 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.60 weaker at $1,423.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying $US 1.0061.
A nervy morning. Too many damn headwinds. I pretty much stuck to skimming a few points off the lows in the casualties in the uranium rout. Traded UNX, RUM and ACB so far but no desire yet to hold overnight. Made peanuts on WEC and exited CRE after this morning's announcement.
