Economic concern led fall of major Asian equities

Singapore, May 17: Asian stocks slumped for the fourth day driving benchmark index to losses, on concern over Greece"s debt crisis and slow economic recovery in US.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.3% to 133.94, as of 12:41 p.m. in Tokyo after Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Japanese and Korean stocks. Goldman Sachs has presented the gloomy picture of Japan after it went through the worst earthquake and Tsunami.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest car maker, fell 1.8% in Tokyo.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.9% on Monday and South Korea's Kospi Index fell 0.8%.

In the U.S., the S&P 500 index slumped 0.6 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 percent on Monday on slower manufacturing growth.

On the European front, Greece"s debt crisis is worrying investors. Despite the bailout Greece received last year, the country is still suffering from financial crisis and might require next funding from European Government and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Cost-cutting measures has gone down as much as they can go but still recovery is too far. There is a further speculation that Greece will need to restructure its debt.

Investors are getting more and more risk averse due to global economic concerns. They are exercising caution towards their investments in economies around the world.

OneIndia News