sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Fall in stocks strips $80bn from market
David Uren, Economics correspondent
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif]23may06[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif]A FALL in the share and currency markets saw $80 billion stripped from the stock market in just 10 days.
Heavy sales of shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto dragged the market down by 1.3 per cent yesterday, with the benchmark All-Ordinaries Index dropping below 5000 points for the first time since March.
The Australian dollar also fell almost a cent against the US dollar, to 75.1 cents.
"This sell-off has been sparked by hedge funds selling commodities. It was always a concern that commodity prices had reached excessive levels on the strength of hedge-fund buying," ABN Amro equities strategist Greg Goodsell said.
There has been a sharp switch in the mood of markets worldwide over the past two weeks. The US dollar is rising against all world currencies while share markets in the Asian region are suffering. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index has dropped 16 per cent while the Bombay market is down 25 per cent.[/FONT]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,19226116,00.html
David Uren, Economics correspondent
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif]23may06[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif]A FALL in the share and currency markets saw $80 billion stripped from the stock market in just 10 days.
Heavy sales of shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto dragged the market down by 1.3 per cent yesterday, with the benchmark All-Ordinaries Index dropping below 5000 points for the first time since March.
The Australian dollar also fell almost a cent against the US dollar, to 75.1 cents.
"This sell-off has been sparked by hedge funds selling commodities. It was always a concern that commodity prices had reached excessive levels on the strength of hedge-fund buying," ABN Amro equities strategist Greg Goodsell said.
There has been a sharp switch in the mood of markets worldwide over the past two weeks. The US dollar is rising against all world currencies while share markets in the Asian region are suffering. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index has dropped 16 per cent while the Bombay market is down 25 per cent.[/FONT]
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,19226116,00.html