Wall Street plunges as Japan quake impact spreads

Stocks on Wall Street fell to their lowest levels in six weeks as investors absorbed the financial impact of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami, while in Tokyo, stocks fell the most in two years.

However, US stcks bounced back late in the session and at the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average had shed 51.24 points, or 0.4%, to 11,993.16. Earlier, the Dow fell as much as 115 points to reach its lowest intraday level since February 1. (Note, as US time has moved on to daylight saving, Wall Street now closes at 9am NZ time.)

General Electric led the measure's decline with a 3.0% drop. The company designed all six of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where three explosions have occurred.

Walt Disney was also weak, off 1.7%, after its Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea theme parks were closed for about 10 days to repair damage.

The Nasdaq Composite finished down 0.5% to 2700.97 and the S&P 500 index was 0.6% lower at 1296.39.

Japan: Biggest fall in two years
Tokyo stocks suffered their biggest fall in more than two years as the country grappledf with a death toll of thousands, a nuclear emergency and billions of dollars in insurance losses.

The Nikkei Stock Average plunged 6.2% to 9620.49 for its worst one-day percentage loss since December 2008.

The yen fell back sharply amid heavy selling as the Bank of Japan injected a record ¥15 trillion yen ($248.5 billion) into the money markets.

Insurers plunged on a selloff in anticipation of claims from the quake, with Dai-ichi Life Insurance falling 18.9% and Tokio Marine Holdings sliding 12.4%. Several exporters, banks and commodity-linked shares fell 5% or more.

Other markets: Europe down, Asia mixed
European stocks were modestly lower as gains in banking and basic-resources stocks helped offset declines in the insurance sector. The Stoxx 600 fell 1.1% to 272.51.

London's FTSE 100 index was down 0.3% at 5812.46, Frankfurt's DAX fell 1.0% to 6913.65 and Paris' CAC-40 was 0.4% lower at 3913.26.

In Asia, coal, metal and building-materials stocks edged higher on hopes for reconstruction opportunities in Japan Uranium miners plunged on worries about prospects for nuclear-power projects.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.4% to 4710.10 and Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.6% to 8520.02.

But other markets moved higher. China's Shanghai Composite added 0.1% to 2937.63, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.4% to 23,345.88, Korea's Kospi rose 0.8% to 1971.23 and India's Sensex rose 1.5% to 18,439.48.

Commodities: Oil down, gold up
Oil prices steadied after falling 3% since Friday’s earthquake closed refineries and ports in the world's third-largest oil consumer.

Crude futures for April delivery settled at $US101.19 a barrel in New York, down 0.4%, after falling to a low of $US98.47. Brent crude was down 27USc at $US113.57.

Gold futures moved higher as investors mulled the impact of the earthquake and tsunami on the global economy.

The most actively traded contract, for April delivery, was up 0.3%, or $US4.90, at $US1426.70 an ounce in New York. The thinly traded March delivery contract was up 0.1%, or $US1.70, at $US1423.20 an ounce.

Currencies: Yen steadies after fall
The yen recovered against the US dollar and euro as the Bank of Japan provided a massive dose of liquidity and further loosened its monetary policy.

The euro gained ground against the dollar after European officials reached an agreement to boost the lending capacity of the region's bailout fund and to ease the terms of Greece's rescue loans.

The dollar was at ¥81.64 after tumbling to a 2011 low of ¥80.60 in the Asian session. That compares with ¥81.89 in New York late on Friday.

The euro fetched ¥114.10, also coming off the day's ¥113.23 low and late Friday's level of ¥113.85.

The euro traded at $US1.3987 from $US1.3903 late on Friday. The pound changed hands at $US1.6184 from $US1.6085 and the dollar was at 0.9245 Swiss franc from 0.9293 franc.