The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 08-09-30

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From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Wall Street and Asian Stock Markets

30 Óåð 2008 09:29:00

Sources: Reueters ÍÅÔ 105,8 - ÁNA-ÌNA

Interest is focused in the American Parliament where the rescue plan is going to be discussed again. Paulson plan was rejected yesterday and raised recession fear. Although the Bush administration had stated through its White House representative that its Congress members would pass the $700 billion financial bailout plan its expectations were belied. The final vote for Bushs plan at the House of Representatives was 228 to 205 against. Despite the fact that the typical procedure was not observed, the vote was extended in an attempt to invert the climate through feverish deliberations. The news was followed by a sharp drop in the Wall Street, with Dow Jones loosing 777.68 points and dropping by 6,98% to 10.365,45 points and Nasdaq dropping by 9.14% to 1,983.73 points. In an announcement the White House expressed the governments disappointment, stressing that the difficult crisis should be dealt with at all costs. President Bush promised a head-on attack to the problem, adding that he would have a meeting with top officials to decide on their further moves. Japan announced a new liquidity injection of 20 billion to prevent collapse of the banking system. George Bush will proceed to new announcements today (15:45 Greece hour) for the rescue of the banking system while the US minister of Finance Henry Paulson stated that he will co operate with parliamentary members in order to suggest a new plan as soon as possible. All stock markets of Latin American recorded major losses today.

Concern in Europe

The shakeup in the financial landscape spread to Europe from the United States, with Belgian-French financial services group Dexia the latest to receive a bailout when three governments and key shareholders on Tuesday injected 6.4 billion euros ($9.18 billion) into the firm. That followed government rescues of Belgian-Dutch group Fortis NV, Germanys Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, British mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley Plc and bailout deals in Iceland, Russia and Denmark. Financial firm Fortis, with million of investors in Belgium, Holland and Luxemberg was saved by the intervention of the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments that proceeded to a liquidity "injection" of $ 11,2 billion euros. Athens stock market dropped to 5,85% yesterday. Crude oil settled at $ 96,70 per barrel.

Asian Stock Markets "Sink"

Shares in Asia were down 3.4 percent in the afternoon, with Tokyo falling more than 4 percent. European stock markets were set to open between 2.5 and 4.4 percent lower after dropping 5.2 percent on Monday to a three-and-a-half year closing low.

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