US market was closed for Thanksgiving Day holiday, but the overseas markets were strongly hit by fears of a debt default by Dubai World, Dubai government's key holding company. Dubai World, which owns strategic global assets, has asked bondholders for a standstill on about US$60 billion in debt until May.
Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday with a flat lead from Wall Street. Tokyo stocks rebounded on upbeat trade figures and bargain hunting after the market opened lower in the morning. Hong Kong and Seoul share declined as investors the U.S. economy did not grow as quickly as previously forecast in the latest quarter.
Asian markets mostly edged higher on Thursday in the morning. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell below 9600 points level for the first time in about four months. Nikkei eased its early gains after a real estate company Tokyo Tatemono said it will issue new shares to raise up to 45.64 billion yen. The Korean market was up on Thursday led by gains in key technology companies.
Wall Street broke its winning streak and closed lower overnight after a disappointing report showed US housing starts fell 10.6 per cent in October and permits fell 4.0 per cent. The tumble suggested that the real estate sector is still under pressure.
The Dow index gave up last week's success and slipped back slightly over the weekend. US and European stock markets closed lower on Friday after the latest US corporate results disappointed high hopes and pushed Wall Street back down through the key 10,000 points level.
Overnight the Dow index and S&P's 500 index posted their biggest falls in three months as the worse-than-expected manufacturing activity data in September and new jobless claims led to a broad sell-off. These figures overshadowed improvements in pending home sales, personal spending and construction spending, and dampened investors confidence on the economy recovery.
Wall Street closed mixed on Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave the near-zero interest rate unchanged, but may begin scaling back some economic stimulus. Traders moved into technology and health care shares amid concerns the energy, materials and financials were overbought.
