Japanese Stock Futures, Australian Shares Decline on Europe, Korea Concern

Japanese stock futures and Australian shares fell on concern a bailout package for Ireland will be insufficient to end Europe’s debt crisis and that tensions will escalate between North Korea and South Korea.

American depositary receipts of Nissan Motor Co., which is Japan’s third-largest carmaker by sales and gets about 75 percent of its sales abroad, lost 0.6 percent from the closing share price in Tokyo on Nov. 26. Those of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest bank by market value, slid 0.7 percent. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company and Australia’s No. 1 oil producer, retreated 0.2 percent today in Sydney after metal and oil prices dropped.

Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average expiring in December closed at 10,015 in Chicago on Nov. 26, compared with 10,050 in Singapore. They were bid in the pre-market at 10,030 in Osaka, Japan, at 8:05 a.m. local time today. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.1 percent today. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index slid 0.3 percent in Wellington.

“It is seen as a risk that debt issues in Ireland may spread to other countries,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Tokyo-based Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.5 percent. The index lost 0.8 percent on Nov. 26 in New York as a stronger dollar weighed on commodity prices and banks declined amid mounting concern about Europe’s debt crisis and escalating tensions in Korea. Markets were open for half a day following the Thanksgiving holiday.

Ireland, Korea

European government officials, meeting yesterday in Brussels, threw debt-strapped Ireland an 85 billion-euro （$113 billion） lifeline and scaled back proposals to saddle bondholders with losses in future budget crises, seeking to reverse the market selloff menacing the euro.

North Korea “will deal a merciless military counter-attack at any provocative act of intruding into its territorial waters,” according to a Rodong newspaper commentary carried on Nov. 28 by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. U.S. and South Korean warships led by the aircraft carrier USS George Washington have begun four days of drills in the region.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 7 percent this year to Nov. 26, compared with gains of 6.7 percent by the S&P 500 and 5 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian gauge are valued at 14.2 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 14 times for the S&P 500 and 11.9 times for the Stoxx 600.

Crude oil for January delivery slipped 10 cents to settle at $83.76 a barrel in New York on Nov. 26. The London Metal Exchange Index of prices for six industrial metals including copper and aluminum declined 1.3 percent that day.