****Panic Selling Shaves $32 Billion off Australian Stocks Sending Market to 2-Year Low****

Lost on the back of the US calamity.
Should be an interesting day in the world markets once the NYSE opens.

$&cents

2.7% Wait till the U.S. market opens to see real panic selling

"Australian, Asian markets follow NZ down"

August 8, 2011

Excerpt:

Stock markets in Australia and Asia have followed New Zealand's downward slide today.

The Asia-Pacific region has the first major markets to open since the United States lost its prized triple-A credit rating on Saturday morning and all have slumped immediately at their openings.

Major Asian equity markets fell by 2-5%, while Wall Street's S&P 500 futures shed 2.8%, indicating no respite is coming.

New Zealand's exchange, which opened first at 10am, had an immediate slide over 2% and lost over $1 billion in value.

Australia's market, which opened two hours later, also immediately fell around 2%, wiping off around $AU27 billion.

Fears that the world's largest economy may be sliding back into recession, worries about a downgrade of America's prized AAA rating and Europe's debt woes combined to pummel financial markets last week in one of the worst routs since the dark days following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

Markets lost $US2.5 trillion last week and have fallen more than 8% further since then.

In a statement issued after an emergency conference call, G7 countries said they were "ready to take action to ensure stability and liquidity in financial markets", adding that senior officials would remain in close contact.

Asian markets fall

Despite the G7 statement, equity markets continued to slide today, following on from last week when the MSCI All-Country World Index saw its biggest weekly price fall since early October 2008, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream.

Tokyo's Nikkei closed down 2.2% and MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 4.2%, taking its losses for the month so far to more than 12%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell around 4% and Singapore's Straits Times Index lost nearly 5%.

South Korea's KOSPI tumbled as much as 7.3%, prompting the stock exchange operator to briefly suspend programme trading, before closing down 3.8%.

[link to tvnz.co.nz]

No doubt.

"Hopes for a bounce on the Australian share market after a horror Friday were dashed as its benchmark index, the S&P/ASX200, fell 90.1 points, or 2.2%, to 4,015.3."

[link to tvnz.co.nz]

12 month high 5069,close of trade today 4058 looks like my superannuations taken another big hit.

I shudder to think of today's U.S. stock market opening...the sharks have been circling since last Friday!

Whoa! That's a 20% difference...is that what WE hav eto look forward to?! Yikes!

Hopes for a bounce eh?
Fukn hilarious.

"Australian stockmarket tumbles 3pc, $A at four-month low ahead of Wall St"

August 8, 2011

AUSTRALIAN shares fell almost 3 per cent today, shaving $17 billion in value and closing below 4000 for the first time in two years.

After plunging 4 per cent on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was down 119.3 points, or 2.91 per cent, at 3986.10 today, while the broader All Ordinaries index fell 113 points (2.71 per cent) at 4056.70.

Gold was pushed to a record as investors sought safety from falling markets across Asia following Standard & Poor's downgrade of a coveted AAA credit rating held by the US.

The S&P/ASX 200 opened down more than 2 per cent before it recovered ground to be 0.8 per cent lower just after noon. But the bears returned later in the afternoon to push the benchmark below the 4000-level for the first time since July 2009.

Today was the fifth consecutive trading session that the bourse closed in the red and added another $17bn to the $62bn wiped from the value of stocks last week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dived over 300 points in screen trade, and were recently off 265 points. Surging gold and slumping oil future prices underscored investor concerns.

The Australian dollar also fell victim to rising global market tensions, sliding to its lowest levels since early April as investors took shelter after the S&P downgrade of US debt.

At 5pm (AEST), the Australian dollar was at $US1.0354, down from $US1.0447 late Friday and off a 30-year high of $US1.1080 in late July. Against the Japanese yen, the Australian dollar was at Y80.685, down from Y82.06.

[link to www.theaustralian.com.au]

But us Aussies are gold plated AAA. Wayne Swan said so!

[link to www.heraldsun.com.au]

Our politicians would never lie to us!

Aussie dollar will be a crisis measure

August 8, 2011

THE Australian dollar will be a key barometer of financial markets' reaction to Standard & Poor's controversial US credit downgrade for the first time in 70 years.

The Australian and regional Asian equities markets will be the first to respond to the dramatic decision, which was announced after Wall Street closed on Friday, The Australian reports.

The Australian dollar has been under pressure in the past week falling from $US1.1061 to $US1.0458, after the upheaval on global financial markets.

[link to www.news.com.au]


[Australian] dollar is lower on risk aversion, US concerns

August 8, 2011

THE dollar was trading at around half a US cent lower at noon, as news of America's credit rating downgrade caused traders to take less risky investments.

[link to www.news.com.au]

We are ALL counting on you! Stay the course!

P.S. I LOVE Sydney!