BANGKOK – World stock markets fell Tuesday, after Europe’s finance ministers postponed approval of an urgently needed aid payment for debt-mired Greece. The ministers, meeting Monday in Brussels, delayed approval of the next €31.5 billion ($40 billion) installment of Greece’s bailout loan. They did give Greece two additional years — until 2016 — to make fundamental changes to its economy that are a condition of its emergency bailout package.
European stocks fell in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.8 % to 5,721.86. Germany’s DAX lost 0.8 % to 7,112.62. France’s CAC-40 shed 1 % at 3,379.64. Wall Street also appeared headed for a session of losses with Dow Jones industrial futures shedding 0.6 % to 12,701 and S&P 500 futures down 0.7 % to 1,368.20.
International lenders have twice agreed to bail out Greece to keep the country from defaulting on its massive debts and a messy exit from the euro currency union. They have pledged a total of €240 billion in rescue loans, and the country has received about €150 billion of those loans so far.
Analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a market commentary that the failure to deliver Greece’s next installment “came as no surprise.”
“The Asian region is weaker as Greece concerns continue to cap markets and dent confidence. After having been in a holding pattern, markets have finally given up their grip on some key support levels,” said Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne.
Stocks fell in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2 % to close at 8,661.05. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.1 % at 21,188.65. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.6 % to 1,889.70. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.5 % to 4,379.80.
Mainland Chinese stocks fell after Housing Minister Jiang Weixin said Monday during the Communist Party congress that curbs placed on the property industry will not be relaxed in the near future.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.5 % to 2,047.89, while the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 2 % to 816.15. Shares in real estate weakened. Poly Real Estate, China’s second-largest listed real estate developer, lost 1.4 % while industry leader China Vanke lost 2.2 %.
