Asian stocks

Asian stocks plunge as Japan’s recession deepens; China gains
Most Asian stock markets fell Monday, as new figures showed Japan’s economy contracted the most in 35 years and Group of Seven finance ministers warned the global slump will drag on through most of the year.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average edged down 22.45 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,756.95, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 204.62 points, or 1.5 percent, to 13,350.05. South Korea’s Kospi lost 1.4 percent to 1,176.23.
Markets in Australia, India and Singapore also declined, while benchmarks in Shanghai and Taiwan gained.

But China’s benchmark stock index rose Monday to a 5 1/2-month high on investor enthusiasm about added liquidity amid rising bank lending, shrugging off declines in other Asian markets on news of Japan’s economic contraction.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 3 percent, or 68.59 points, to 2,389.59, its highest close since Aug. 29. The Shenzhen Composite Index for China’s smaller, second exchange added 1.9 percent to close at 763.3.

Oil prices stayed above $ 37 a barrel Monday in Asia as OPEC members talked up more production cuts over the weekend amid weakening global demand for crude.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery fell 5 cents to $ 37.46 a barrel by late afternoon in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $ 3.53 on Friday to settle at $ 37.51.

Investors also seemed disappointed after finance chiefs from the Group of Seven developed countries finished their meeting in Rome with pledges to work together to boost growth and unemployment, but stopped short of concrete measures.
Increasingly, investors are unconvinced governments around the world are acting quick enough to solve the credit crisis, plummeting consumer demand and other problems at the heart of the economic slowdown, analysts said.
source:mb