Global stock prices continued their downward descent on Friday on fears that the debt crisis in Greece will soon spread to other vulnerable countries including Spain and Portugal. In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 82.34 points, or 1.6 percent, at 5,056.97, while Germany’s DAX fell 69.61 points, or 1.3 percent, to 5,463.63. The CAC-40 in France was 76.60 points, or 2.1 percent, lower at 3,612.65.
Asian stock markets also struggled; Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 sank 2.9 percent, or 298.89 points, to 10,057.09, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.9 percent, or 55.91, to 2,939.40. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng buckled 3.3 percent to 19,665.08.
“It has been a worry for Greece for weeks but it is now spreading like wildfire, driving equity markets lower, causing further concerns both about medium-term growth prospects and in currency markets,” said Kit Juckes, chief economist at ECU Group.
Source: Associated Press
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