Sydney - Saturday - February 11: (RWE Aust Business News) -...

Sydney - Saturday - February 11: (RWE Aust Business News) - Global sharemarkets encountered a serious loss of confidence overnight as the Greek Parliament argues the toss about approving the austerity program scheduled to be debated in the House on Sunday.

Unless the Greeks agree to the raft of measures covering 50 pages there will be no bailout money, according to European authorities.

The exact details of the Greek agreement is still to be spelt out but reports suggest they include a 20pc reduction in the national minimum wage, the axing of 15,000 government jobs and cuts to future and existing pension entitlements.

Latest Greek unemployment was another shocker with jobless increasing 2.5 per cent in a month to 20.5 per cent while August growth is a negative 5 per cent and no recovery is likely until about 2013.

The bleak outlook moved into the US markets with shares falling heavily while the S&P 500 has shown its first weekly decline in the past six, after another delay in negotiations for a financial bailout package for Greece.

All 10 S&P sectors were negative and the S&P 500 energy, financials and materials sectors were each down about 1 percent.

The CBOE Volatility index .VIX, often referred to as Wall Street's "fear index," jumped 11 percent, its biggest percentage gain in three months.

Investors have anxiously awaited a bailout package for Greece so the country might avoid a messy debt default but complications have tied up talks for weeks.

At least four Ministers have resigned along with other Parliamentarians.

At the bell, Wall Street's Dow finished 89 points behind 89, the S&P 500 down 9 while the Nasdaq composite lost 23 and the 100 index off 17.

In Europe, London lost 43 points on the Footsie, the CAC 40 down 52, the Frankfurt Dax off 96 and Zurich a milder 39 retreat.

An agreement finally came this week but it was dealt a blow as workers in Greece went on strike to oppose fiscal reform measures requested by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

There is another EU on Wednesday but the real crunch time is March 20 when the bailout funds are imperative.

The S&P 500 downturn broke a five-week winning streak.

The day's declines also put an end to the S&P 500 to the three-day streak of gains.

US consumer sentiment data also weighed on the market.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan overall index of consumer sentiment fell to 72.5 in early February from January's 75.0, which was the highest level since February 2011.

Among financials, shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) slipped 0.9 per cent to $37.52 while manufacturer Caterpillar (CAT.N), down 1.3 per cent at $111.33, was the biggest drag on the Dow.

On the Nasdaq, Expedia (EXPE.O) fell 2.1 per cent to $33.44, a day after delivering disappointing results.

Among rising stocks, LinkedIn Corp (LNKD.N) gained 17.1 per cent to $89.42 after three brokerages raised their price targets on the stock.

The professional networking services company reported an upbeat outlook for the first quarter on Thursday.

WALL STREET... The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 89.23 points or 0.69% to 12,801.20 and the S&P 500 index shed 9.31 points or 0.69% to 1342.64. The Nasdaq Composite index lost 23.35 points or 0.80% to 2903.88 and the Nasdaq 100 index fell 16.61 points or 0.65% to 2547.32. In Treasuries, the 10-year note rose 19/32 to 100 9/32 while the yield fell 0.06 points to 1.97pc. The 30-year bond yield shed 0.07 points to 3.13pc and the two-year note yield gained 0.01 point to 0.26pc.

US DOLLAR... is changing hands at 77.58 yen (pre 77.03), against the euro it is $US1.3174 (pre 1.3259) against sterling $US1.5740 (pre 1.5818) and against the Swiss franc $US1.0900 (pre 1.0958).



AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR... is changing hands at $US1.0667 compared with $US1.0787 on yesterday's close. Offshore the Aussie posted a high of $US1.0790 and low of $US1.0640. Against the yen it is at 82.76 (pre 83.20) at 80.98 euro cents (pre 81.46) and 67.78 British pence (pre 68.28).





EUROPEAN SHARES... London's FTSE 100 fell 43.08 to 5,852.39, Paris's CAC-40 dropped 51.57 to 3,373.14, Frankfurt's DAX slumped 95.84 to 6,692.96, Zurich lost 38.97 to 6,130.66, but Oslo crept up 1.59 to 473.36.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.9 per cent to 261.24 at the close in London, wrapping up a weekly loss to 1.3 percent. The gauge has still advanced 6.8 per cent this year amid optimism that the euro area will contain its debt crisis and that the US economic recovery remains intact. .

COMEX METALS... spot gold is currently $1717.93 oz. The Mar gold contract fell $15.70 to $1723.30 oz, the Apr contract lost $15.90 to $1725.30 oz. Mar silver shed 31c to $33.9604 oz. Apr platinum fell $7.80 to $1659.80 oz and Mar copper dropped 11.65c to 386.20c lb.

LONDON METAL EXCHANGE... official cash ask prices were: copper $8591 tonne (pre $8520), tin $25,500 (pre $25,160), lead $2169 (pre $2145.50), zinc $2122.50 (pre $2108), aluminium $2218.50 (pre $2232.50) and nickel $21,050 (pre $21,350).

The 3-month ask prices were copper $8606 (pre $8546), tin $25,500 (pre $25,205), lead $2195 (pre $2175.50), zinc $2124 (pre $2144),aluminium $2258.50 (pre $2277) and nickel $21,125 (pre $21,400).



OIL... March crude fell $1.17 to $98.67 a barrel, with a high of $99.89 and a low of $97.32. The April contract lost $1.21 to $99.03 barrel with a high of $100.21 and low of $97.73. Brent ICE for March retreated $1.28 to $117.31 a barrel with a high of $118.61 and a low of $116.29. The Tapis crude oil spot price rose 89c to $126.20 a barrel.