Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Stock exchanges were down in Asia today as fears increase that the Greek debt crisis is getting increasingly worse. All shares values have dropped In a knock-on affect from Wall Street, the market in Japan dropped by 3% by midday while the markets in Australia and South Korea opened at - 2%.
More precisely, by midday the index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange lost 2.47% in Hong Kong 1.53, Sydney 1.39, Seoul, 25; Singapore, 1.23 , Taipei 1.19. In Shanghai, the index fell only 0.15%.
The losses are much smaller than those that invested the European exchanges yesterday. Paris lost 3.82, London 2.61, Frankfurt 2.73, 3.28 Milan, Brussels, 3.34. In New York the Dow Jones lost 1, 90.
The fall began after Standard & Poor's branded Greece's debt as junk. In this way the agencies indicate that this country is a place where investments are at risk. Several financial institutions are forbidden to invest in situations where bonds are considered junk. The Greek debt is now the equivalent to that of the governments of Azerbaijan and Egypt, putting at risk the entire euro zone.
The euro countries are reluctant to help Greece because in the last 10 years Athens has manipulated the budgets of the State through Goldman Sachs derivatives structured.
The Greek government now recognizes that is unable to recover loans in the international market and has called on the International Monetary Fund and the European Union for a bailout package to pay off its debts for at least two months. By May 19 Greece should repay a debt of nine billion euro, while an interest continues to rise.
Meanwhile, even Portugal’s credit has been disqualified, raising fears that the crisis could spread across Europe, hitting the Euro and global markets.
Herman Van Rompuy, EU president, said the eurozone leaders will meet by May 10 to agree on an initial loan of 30 billion euros to Greece, to add that the International Monetary Fund of 15 billion euros .
