We were told by the talking heads that the Greek crisis would have very little effect on Asia. There was no contagion risk and Greece was too small to have any effect on Asia, however by late afternoon yesterday the main Asian markets were battered and bruised.
Tokyo stocks fell sharply with investor sentiment hurt after Greeks voted on Sunday to reject austerity conditions required for continued financial aid from creditors, fuelling speculation the cash-strapped country might leave the Eurozone.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 427.67 points, or 2.08 percent, from Friday at 20,112.12. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 31.73 points, or 1.92 percent, lower at 1,620.36
In Hong Kong The Hang Seng index had its sharpest one-day fall since November 2011 as investors turned risk averse after the Greek no vote raised the risk of a euro currency break-up. The Hang Seng Index lost 827.83 points more than 3 percent per cent, to finish at 25,236.28.
The sweeping weekend stimulus package launched by Beijing failed to pull Chinese markets from the bearish grip of a three week long retreat.Equity markets in China finished mixed with Shenzhen stocks losing ground and Shanghai shares clawing their way to positive territory. However excessive margin lending may have more to do with Chinese market swings than news from Athens. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 2.41 per cent, or 89 points, to finish at 3,775.91, after rising as much as 7.8 per cent at open.
The US markets came back from their lows last night indicating that today might see some green across Asian markets at least in the early hours.
The rout was not limited to equities however with oil coming off by more than 7 percent on worries for the greater European economic recovery.
