Asian market preview 12/11/2008

US markets closed lower again last night on more worries that the drop in consumer spending will hurt all sector including luxury home builders, coffee sellers and car makers. Investors realized that it's becoming really hard to rely on average consumers to pull the economy out of its downturn after Starbucks Corp. reported lower sales across its coffee chain and Toll Brothers Inc. posted a sharp drop in revenue and said its hard to predict what the luxury homebuilder's profit would be next year. Meanwhile, Wall Street is also waiting for bailout from the federal government to help the ailing automakers after GM shares plunged to 60-year lows. Investors are more worried as they're uncertain on how bad the situation they're really in and analysts predicted that markets will have its wild swing within this range and will not be able to recover fully until they know for sure about the depth of the recession. More bailout money have been made available to AIG and American Express Co. have become a commercial bank. The Dow ended the day lower by 176.58 pts or 1.99% to 8,693.96, S&P500 fell 20.26 pts or 2.20% to 898.95 while Nasdaq fell 35.84 pts or 2.22% to 1,580.90.

Asian markets may open lower again today following another drop in US markets last night on more worries about consumer spending. Depending on how the markets and investors will take it around the region, another big drop in the markets may signal more buying opportunity for long-term investors. However, if there are no positive news to come out from Asian region, it's inevitable for the markets to make further pullbacks. The drop in oil prices may hurt producers today but it may prove to be good in long term. Oil was recently traded around $58.90ish per barrel, gold traded around $731.20ish and JPY traded around 97.60ish. Nikkei futures was closed at 8500 in CME compared to the close of 8700 here yesterday.

Kospi may open lower again today following more drops and more pessimism to come out of the US markets last night. Lower oil prices may hurt oil related companies and worries about consumer spending may also hit retailers in the country. Global economic outlook seems weaker than before and this may weigh on the market and cause more foreign investors to flee the market today. Kospi may find its support at around 140ish and its resistance at around 152ish today.

Hangseng may open lower today following another round of fresh worries from the US markets. CNOOC is seen to trade lower as its ADRs in the US fell 8.3% on lower oil prices. China mainland markets may hurt Hangseng too today as more companies reported lower earnings. Investors may find it hard to be optimistic and buy stocks today although the stock prices seem to be quite attractive. However, if there's another very sharp drop today, long term investors and bargain hunters may kick in and start collecting. Hangseng may find its support at 13000ish and its resistance at 14300ish today.