Stock markets tumbled on Friday after a survey showed Chinese factories contracted at their fastest pace since the depth of the global financial crisis in 2009, sending investors scurrying to the safety of bonds and gold. Emerging market assets took a hammering, and oil prices were on track for their longest losing streak since 1986, as fears of a China-led deceleration in global growth gripped markets.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 2.4 percent to its lowest since July 27, 2012, for a weekly loss of 6.1 percent. Shanghai stocks .SSEC dropped 4 percent to below the 200-day moving average for the first time since July 2014. That brought losses for the week to 11 percent. The Hang Seng index .HSI in Hong Kong was down 2.4 percent for a weekly loss of 7.4 percent. Markets in countries whose economic fortunes were closely linked to China's growth tumbled. Japan's Nikkei .N225 declined 2.9 percent, for a weekly loss of 5.2 percent. South Korea's Kospi .KS11 shed 1.6 percent, and was 4 percent lower for the week. European markets are set to follow suit, with financial spreadbetter IG expecting Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open 144 points lower, or down 2.2 percent, Germany's DAX .GDAXI to open 325 points lower, or down 3.1 percent, and France's CAC 40 .FCHI to open 121 points lower, or down 2.5 percent. The S&P 500 .SPX and the Dow Jones index .DJIA slumped below their 200 day averages overnight. The mood in markets, already soured by the weakness on Wall Street, darkened further on the grim reading of China's factory activity. The Caixin/Markit manufacturing index showed activity in China's factory sector shrank at its fastest pace in almost 6 1/2 years in August as domestic and export demand dwindled. That decline, coming on the heels of weaker-than-expected data in July, stoked fears of a slowdown in the world's second-biggest economy. "Markets are pricing in the worst right now," said Herald Van Der Linde, head of Asian equity strategy at HSBC. The MSCI emerging markets index .MSCIEF slid 1.7 percent to the lowest since Aug. 19, 2009. U.S. stock futures fell almost 0.5 percent to a six-month low in Asian trade after the Chinese PMI was released. The Australian dollar AUD=D4, considered a liquid proxy for China demand, slid to $0.7285 at one point and was last trading at $0.7304, down 0.5 percent for the day. The market ructions sent gold XAU=up to its highest level in more than a month. Safe-haven U.S. Treasury yields also slipped further. They were already feeling a downward pull after minutes from the Federal Reserve's July meeting offered little clue of a near-term rate hike, denting expectations of a tightening in September. "The U.S. markets have held up well of late, being viewed as somewhat of a safe-haven," wrote Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG in Melbourne. "This view seems to have deteriorated somewhat with the S&P 500 closing below its multi-month trading range – a fate the credit markets and the U.S. yield curve have been screaming for some time." Lower Treasury yields in turn weighed on the dollar. The currency traded at 122.82 yen JPY=, the lowest in more than five weeks, after sinking from an overnight high of 124.16. The euro hovered near a two-month high at $1.1290 EUR= after surging 1.1 percent on Thursday. In commodities, crude oil resumed its downward trend. U.S. crude CLc1 was headed for its eight straight weekly decline, slipping 0.5 percent to $40.85 after touching a multi-year low of $40.21 on Thursday. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/138408.aspx
