Asian market review 28/01/2008

Asian markets fell today following the decline on Wall St last Friday. The fears of US and now Japan slipping into recession paced the losses in the region with Nikkei falling as much as 4% and Hangseng 5%. Nikkei fell 541.25 pts or 3.97% to 13087.91 and its futures fell to 13090 in Singapore at 2.30PM. More uncertainties are clouding the stock markets as investors afraid that the global economy is contracting following US and Japan as both of the countries are said to be already in recession.
Kospi opened at 212.70 and it was pretty flat until about 8.30 AM when it started the rollercoaster ride, falling towards the 210ish region and up again to 212ish region before finally giving up entirely falling to as low as 206.90. Volatility in the market was high but not as high as last week; the trading range was narrower today. Kospi moved between 206.90-213.85.
Hangseng opened lower following the US fall on Friday, opening at 24519 and it fell down straight away without ever came back to the open price. Volatility was quite high but not as high as it used to, moving between 100-200 pts each time. It went down in 1st session and was closed at 23889. 2nd Session opened lower at 23696 and it went down further to 23549 before it finally rebounded back up in a more volatile session than 1st session. It kept going up and was closed at its highest peak for session 2 at 24280. Hangseng moved between 23549-24519.