Asian market preview 10/04/2008

US markets fell again last night after oil reached to record highs and after warning from UPS sparked some sell-off by investors. UPS slashed its earnings forecast for Q1 after saying that higher oil prices and slower consumer demands were chewing away their profit for the quarter. Financial institutions such as Lehman Bros, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley dragged the sector lower after reporting that there are more "level 3" assets (assets that are harder to liquid) that they own in 1st quarter. Retailers also dragged market down and Amazon Inc., the biggest internet retailers fell the most this month on analyst report that reduced spending may curb earnings. Earnings reports will play significant part this month as they will let investors see how corporate perform during the 1st quarter and how well is the economy doing. The Dow fell 49.18 pts or 0.39% to 12527.26, S&P500 fell 11.05 or 0.81% to 1354.49 while Nasdaq fell 26.64 pts or 1.13% to 2322.12.

Asian markets may extend the losses from yesterday today after oil and commodity prices soared to record highs. Markets may start slow today with a downward bias and the pressure may heightened if investors are becoming more cautious in gauging the overall global economy. Crude oil was traded around $110.60ish recently after reaching its new record of $112.21 overnight, gold was traded around $933ish and JPY traded around 101.80ish. Nikkei futures was closed at 13120 at CME compared to the close of 13145 here yesterday.

The Kospi will resume trading today after a one day holiday yesterday and may open around 225ish. Market may fall further today tracking regional markets losses yesterday and today after commodity prices rocketed overnight. Chipmakers may weigh on the market more as the outlook on tech sector in the US seem to be rather gloomy.

Hangseng may open lower again today around 23800ish and if it can breach that level, it may go down further towards 23500ish today. Sinopec may weigh on the market again after oil prices soared to record highs. Market will also pay close attention to earnings report and also may track the movement of the China market in mainland. Slight rebound may happen too today after 2 days of drops. If market should rebound, 24200ish is the first resistance target.