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Asian shares plummet amid recession fears Posted: 04 Aug 2011 10:10 PM PDT HONG KONG: Asian stock markets plummeted on Friday morning following carnage in the US and European markets amid fears the world was heading towards another financial crisis. Major markets in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea tumbled as already-fragile investor confidence was hammered by more weak US economic data and growing fears that Italy and Spain might need to be bailed out. "It's going to be a very ugly end to an even uglier week," IG Markets analyst Ben Potter said in Sydney, adding that all sectors were expected to take a battering. Tokyo dived 3.36 by the break, Hong Kong plummeted 4.67 percent, Sydney slumped 4.10 percent by noon, Seoul tumbled 3.62 percent and Taipei shed 5.15 percent. Shanghai slipped 1.80 percent. Fear swept across Asia from Europe and the United States, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst one-day drop since December 2008 to close 4.3 percent lower at 11,383.68, erasing all this year's gains. The broader S&P 500 dropped 4.8 percent to end the day at 1,200.07, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dived 5.1 percent to 2,556.39. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 3.43 percent, retreating to levels last seen in September 2010, while in Frankfurt the DAX fell 3.40 percent, and France's CAC 40 dropped 3.90 percent. "We're seeing the erosion and now the loss of confidence, confidence in the economy, confidence in the market, confidence in the policy makers. It's all showing up," said US-based Hugh Johnson, of Hugh Johnson Advisors. Weak jobs data out of the United States on Thursday fuelled concerns among some analysts that the world could be heading towards another recession following the 2008 financial crisis. The US Labor Department reported that weekly claims for unemployment benefits remained at a high 400,000 last week. "There is a deep concern about global growth and of the state of play in the United States in particular," said City Index analyst Giles Watts. "Traders are growing increasingly concerned about a sharp slowdown in US economic activity in the third quarter." Eyes will be on the United States later Friday when Washington releases key government jobs data and a weaker-than-expected result could lead to a further sell-off. In Europe, investor sentiment remained plagued by worries that debt-laden Italy and Spain could be engulfed by the fast-moving eurozone debt crisis. The European Central Bank announced Thursday that it would resume emergency credit-easing measures, some of which were last enacted at the height of the financial crisis. But the ECB's efforts still failed to restore confidence. The risk premium investors demand to buy Spanish 10-year bonds over safe-bet German debt shot back up to near a record high on Thursday. The eurozone debt crisis has put Italy and Spain under huge pressure in recent weeks after Greece, Ireland and Portugal had to be bailed out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. On currency markets the dollar held some of the gains it made against the yen Thursday after Tokyo stepped in to sell the Japanese unit as it edged towards a record high. The greenback was at 78.84 yen, after rising close to 80 yen in the first few hours after Tokyo's intervention. The euro fell to 111.17 yen from 111.27 yen late in New York on Thursday, while it gained to $1.4105 from $1.4100. "The fear of a double-dip recession with the slowdown in the US and the sovereign debt situation in Europe is having everybody biting their nails," said Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist of Deutsche Bank. Gold scored a new record at $1,681.72 per ounce on the spot market in New York as investors flocked to the precious metal, regarded as a safe bet in times of economic turmoil. It later retreated to $1,647.57. Gold opened at $1,643.00-$1,644.00 an ounce in Hong Kong. Prices for US government bonds, another safe haven, also rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 2.46 percent from 2.60 percent late Wednesday, while that on the 30-year bond fell to 3.72 percent from 3.87 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate light, sweet crude for delivery in September, was down 92 cents to $85.71 a barrel in morning trade after plunging $5.30, or 5.8 percent, in New York Thursday. It was the lowest closing price for WTI since February. Brent North Sea crude for September delivery shed 13 cents to $107.12 after falling $5.98, or 5.3 percent, in London trade. Among other markets, Wellington slumped 2.4 percent while Manila was 3.10 percent lower. - AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search.

Foreign bus drivers? Posted: 04 Aug 2011 09:32 PM PDT 2011/08/05 By Minderjeet Kaur and Punitha Kumar news@nst.com.my Firms' proposal to overcome shortage, weed out the reckless KUALA LUMPUR: Allow express bus companies to hire foreigners as drivers. This is the proposal made by the country's biggest express bus company, Konsortium Transnational Bhd, to beat the shortage of express bus drivers and weed out the reckless ones in the existing pool. Its executive director, Tengku Hasmadi Tengku Hashim, hoped the authorities would agree to the company's proposal to have foreigners make up 30 per cent of its drivers. Other express bus companies agreed that the acute shortage of drivers had left them with no choice but to hire some of the worst drivers on the road. Tengku Hasmadi said the company had fired reckless drivers in the past, including those who received too many summonses for speeding, but because of the shortage of drivers, they would easily find employment in other bus companies. "It is hard to discipline drivers these days. It's the drivers' market at the moment and we don't have much choice." Tengku Hasmadi said he believed it would be difficult for the drivers to hop from one company to another if there was no shortage. He said Konsortium Transnational, which has a fleet of 700 express buses and is paying its drivers between RM2,000 and RM3,000 each monthly, hoped to be allowed to hire drivers from countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar and Bangladesh. "They will be more disciplined and will not dare break the rules." Kuala Lumpur Melaka Express Sdn Bhd manager Vincent Mah concurred with Tengku Hasmadi on the shortage of bus drivers and hoped measures would be taken by the government to address the issue. "Sometimes, it is difficult for a company to keep a driver for a long time." Another bus operator, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were too many buses and not enough dr iver s. As a result, although drivers were not supposed to be at the wheel for more than eight hours a day, they had to take more trips on certain days, especially during festive seasons. In the run-up to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri alone, he anticipated that there would be a 20 per cent increase in the number of bus trips. He also said the shortage of drivers had led to trips being cancelled at times, causing losses to bus companies. "To help ease our problem, the government should allow qualified foreign bus drivers to be hired." Malaysian Institute of Road Safety director-general (research) Wong Shaw Voon believed the express bus industry had to work closely with the relevant agencies to improve the quality of express bus drivers. "There are many drivers who have painted a bad image of the industry and bus operators must be able to look into all this," he said, adding that hiring foreign drivers might not be the solution. "These foreign drivers will bring their own set of problems, starting with the different driving standards practised in their country. "There could also be the language barrier to deal with." Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search.

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