Asia shares mixed, eurozone debt fears return

HONG KONG: Asian markets were mixed while the safe-haven yen edged up Friday following a sell-off on Wall Street and in Europe as fears over eurozone debt resurfaced with a payment crisis at Portugal´s biggest listed bank.

News that the parent of Banco Espirito Santo had covered up a $1.8 billion hole in its accounts fanned worries of a return to the debt crisis that wracked Europe just three years ago.

Tokyo fell 0.31 percent, Hong Kong added 0.14 percent, Shanghai was 0.45 percent up and Seoul shed 0.55 percent, while Sydney edged 0.15 percent higher.

Bangkok is closed for a public holiday.

US and European shares sank on Thursday as it emerged that Espirito Santo International, the bank´s holding firm, had failed to make payments on some short-term debt.

Trading in the bank´s shares were suspended in Lisbon Thursday after its shares plummeted 17.24 percent.

The crisis comes less than two months after Portugal exited a three-year, $106 billion international bailout which had helped the government avert a default.

It also revived memories of the eurozone sovereign and banking debt crisis of 2011 that saw a number of nations go to the wall.

"Is this just an isolated event or is it the first chink in the chain to fire contagion fears?" said IG Markets strategist, Evan Lucas, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

"These issues have been simmering and the data has suggested that normal setting in these economies is still a long way off."

On Wall Street the Dow fell 0.42 percent, the S&P 500 lost 0.41 percent and Nasdaq shed 0.52 percent. Those losses followed a sell-off in Europe, where London, Frankfurt and Paris all saw hefty losses, while shares in Lisbon dived more than four percent.

Sentiment was already bad in Europe after France and Italy posted weak industrial output data, adding to disappointing figures from Germany and Britain.

The yen benefited from the uncertainty fuelled by the latest crisis.

In early trade the dollar bought 101.28 yen against 101.32 yen in New York, while the euro was at 137.76 yen compared with 137.88 yen. That compares with 101.50 yen and 138.50 yen on Thursday in Asia.

The single currency also fetched $1.3601 against $1.3609 in US trade.

Investors are also looking ahead to the release next week of Chinese growth data hoping for a pick-up in the world´s number two economy following some upbeat indicators recently.

On oil markets US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery eased nine cents to $102.84 while Brent crude for August was down six cents to $108.61.

Gold fetched $1,338.23 an ounce at 0220 GMT compared with $1,341.45 late Thursday. (AFP)