holiday, page-10

The market is down and AUT is now an index stock. Investors selling the index will be selling AUT as a component. The horrendous tragedy developing in Japan, with its government seemingly paralysed and unable to do anything to control the reactors or provide humanitarian relief for the 1/2 million made homeless by the 'quake and the tsunami, is weighing heavily on the markets.

In time, it almost seems inevitable that the US will scrap or severely reduce its nuclear reactor programme and will turn to gas generators using the large reserves of shale gas. The EU is conducting an urgent safety review of all 143 reactors in the EU. The UK has suspended its plans for replacement reactors. I cannot believe that Japan will even consider further or replacement reactors in the future.

So AUT is a firm hold. At any time Obama might respond to the growing US public concerns and outline a new electricity generation policy that substitutes gas turbines for nuclear reactors.

Pure guesswork but people just don't believe the claims that nuclear fission reactors can be made safe and local accidents tend to be a continental affair, if not a global affair.

It looks as though it is going to get worse before it gets better.