Huge tsunami slams coastal Japan after 8.9 quake

TOKYO: A massive 8.9 magnitude quake hit northeast Japan on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, cars, farm buildings on fire and boats, media and witnesses said.

At least one person was killed in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo where four million homes were without power. The quake caused many injuries, fires and a wall of water across the coast, prompting warnings to people to move to higher ground.

There were several strong aftershocks. In the capital Tokyo, buildings shook violently.

TV pictures showed a vast wall of water carrying the debris and even fires across a large swathe of coastal farmland near the city of Sendai, which has a population of one million.

Public broadcaster NHK showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.

Black smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama’s Isogo area. TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks floating in water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed into the water.

Kyodo news agency said there were reports of fires in Sendai where waves carried cars across the runway at the airport.

The western prefecture of Wakayama ordered 20,000 people to evacuate after further tsunami warnings.

“WORST IN 20 YEARS”

“The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks,” Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo.

“It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago.”

The Tokyo stock market extended losses after the quake. The central bank said it would do everything to ensure financial stability.

Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers” hands. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.

Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into Hitotsugi street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown Tokyo.

Household goods ranging from toilet paper to clingfilm were flung into the street from outdoor shelves in front of a drugstore.

Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first quake subsided, crowds were watching and pointing to construction cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying, “They”re still shaking!”, “Are they going to fall?”
Asagi Machida, 27, a web designer in Tokyo, sprinted from a coffee shop when the quake hit.

“The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn”t believe such a big earthquake was happening in Tokyo.”

The US trendpk.comlogical Survey earlier verified a magnitude of 7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu. It later upgraded it to 8.9.

A police car drove down Hitotsugi Street, lights flashing, announcing through a bullhorn that there was still a danger of shaking.

Japan”s northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged after by a tsunami caused by a strong tremor in Chile.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world”s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

Asian stocks remain mixed

Asian stock markets are exhibiting a mixed trend on Tuesday with investors treading cautiously ahead of the announcement of key quarterly results. The dollar was largely unchanged at 80.71 yen, close to a 15-year low of around 80.40 yen and not far from a record low of 79.75 yen last plumbed in April 1995.
The Japanese stock market is trading weak with a stronger yen and caution ahead of earnings reports contributing to the decline to an extent. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which declined to around 9,360 after edging up marginally in early trades, was down 17.76 points or 0.19% at 9,383.40 at the end of the morning session. Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore are trading weak, while Shanghai, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are up marginally. Markets across the region ended mostly higher on Monday.

Stocks, at crossroads, turn to earnings

NEW YORK: The US stock market landed at a technical crossroads following its best week in a year, yet the potential for positive earnings surprises beginning next week could give an edge to the bulls.

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Stocks, at crossroads, turn to earnings

Shares down by $53tr in Asia

Asian markets are bullish while shares are down by $53trillion owing to the financial crisis hitting Europe.
MSCI Index came down at 111 points after losing 1.5 percent. Japans Nikkei Index closed at 9,784 after shedding 46 points.
During trade, Indias Sensex lost 160 points while Hang Seng shed 33 points. Taiwan stock market lost 187 points.

Power tariffs raise decision delayed

ISLAMABAD: The government has delayed the decision regarding the six percent increase power tariffs, Geo News reported Thursday.

Talking to Geo News, the sources privy to the Finance Ministry said the condition of six percent increase was a part to a standby program of International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Pakistan had had to arrange Rs24 billion in the event the power tariffs are not upped.

There is no wheat shortage feared in the country, as 24 million tonnes of wheat produce is expected this year; accordingly, the wheat import would be uncalled for.

So, the Rs24 billion out of Rs25 billion apportioned for wheat imports would be spent on the power subsidy.

Bullish KSE100-index posts 100 points

KARACHI: The foreign investors continued buying at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), which pushed the benchmark 100-index up by over 100 points, Geo News reported Thursday.

The KSE-100 index posted gains to cross 10300-point level which is 19-month highs buttressed by the recent foreign buying.

March 2010 witnessed new consistent buyings by foreign investors worth a total of $113 million. Earlier in September 2009, $127 million of buying was recorded in a single month.

In comparison, Indian stock market saw new buying of $4.40 billion in March; of which the foreign buying in Pakistani stock market in the same month is just 2.5 percent; however, this fresh buying has persistently maintained the 100-index at 19-month high level.

Mixed trend was witnessed in Karachi stock

Karachi, Pakistan News :- Mixed trend was witnessed in Karachi stock market at the start of new business week as the benchmark 100 index surged by 49 points on Monday.

The business activities in the share market started in positive zone and at one point the index crossed 9200 points level. However, lack of interest from investors caused the market to wobble. The KSE-100 index closed at 9233, up 49 points with trade volume of only 70 million shares. The Bank of Punjab remained volume leader with share price of Rs 20.60, down Rs 0.37.

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Mixed trend was witnessed in Karachi stock was first posted on December 21, 2009 at 11:27 pm.

Royal Bank Of Scotland Posts $3 Billion 3Q Loss

Royal Bank Of Scotland Posts $3 Billion 3Q Loss: Government-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC on Friday reported a net loss of 1.8 billion pounds ($3 billion) but that underlying profits had improved and lending to companies increased 5 percent. Full recovery from its near collapse a year ago will take years, its chief executive Stephen Hester said. For the three months ending Sept.

Royal Bank Of Scotland Posts $3 Billion 3Q Loss:Government-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC on Friday reported a net loss of 1.8 billion pounds ($3 billion) but that underlying profits had improved and lending to companies increased 5 percent.

Full recovery from its near collapse a year ago will take years, its chief executive Stephen Hester said.

For the three months ending Sept. 30, RBS reported total income of 7.1 billion pounds, compared to 8.6 billion pounds a year earlier.

However, the bank booked impairment losses of 3.3 billion pounds, up from 1.3 billion a year earlier. Impairments for the first three quarters of this year rose to 10.8 billion pounds.

Without the impairments, operating profit rose 55 percent to 1.75 billion pounds.

Hester said the results affirmed his confidence that RBS can recover as a strong company.

“The results also show the headwinds we face and the legacy we are purposefully working out of,” he said. “As I have repeatedly said, the journey will take some years.

Karachi Stocks Remain Volatile

Karachi Stocks Remain Volatile, Karachi stock market witnessed mixed trend on Tuesday as the benchmark 100 index lowered by 59 points.
The share market witnessed bullish trend at the start of the day as buying pushed the market up by more than 100 points. However, cautious behavior of the investors caused the market to go up and down. The KSE-100 index closed at 9316, down 59 points with trade volume of 166.3 million shares. Pak PTA remained volume leader with 24.6 million shares and share price of Rs 6.33, down Rs 0.36.

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Karachi Stocks Remain Volatile was first posted on October 28, 2009 at 3:56 pm.

Oil Prices Drift Lower in International Market

Oil prices drifted lower Thursday as markets awaited the US August jobs report Friday for clues on the direction of the world’s biggest economy and energy consumer.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, settled at 67.96 dollars a barrel, down nine cents from Wednesday’s closing level.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for October delivery shed 54 cents to close at 67.12 dollars a barrel.

“The stock market is a big driver now and it’s almost flat,” said Ellis Eckland, an independent trader.

With the major Wall Street indices barely in the green as the oil market closed, a jump in opening oil prices, in response to the Shanghai stock market’s nearly 5.0 percent gain, petered out.

“We saw the reverse happen when the Chinese stock market was down 6.0 percent” on Monday, Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates pointed out.

“Clearly at the moment there is a big link between how the equity markets around the world are performing and what is going on in the oil market,” he said.

Oil contracts, essentially those close to expiration, had found support in the US Department of Energy’s latest weekly energy report Wednesday, which showed declines in crude oil and gasoline reserves and a stabilzation in demand.

“Near-term demand and supply are tightening a little bit,” Eckland said.

The New York benchmark contract slid lower in the final minutes of trading, as investors braced for the highly anticipated US August employment data due Friday.

Investors were expected to pore over the monthly numbers, considered an indicator of economic momentum, to see whether the US is pulling out of a severe recession that began in December 2007.

A smaller-than-expected decline last week in the number of US initial claims for unemployment benefits, reported by the Labor Department Thursday, put investors on alert.

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Oil Prices Drift Lower in International Market was first posted on September 4, 2009 at 3:22 pm.
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