Asian stocks opened lower Wednesday after Slovakia blocked a measure to expand Europe’s financial rescue program for heavily indebted countries. The move sent markets south as worries intensified that a failure by Europe to contain its debt crisis could lead to a massive debt default by the Greek government.   Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped [...]

  Asian shares rallied, following sharp gains on Wall Street, on hopes that policymakers in Europe will take action to resolve the region’s worsening debt crisis. Sentiment improved after European Central Bank officials said on Monday that they were working to increase the size of the region’s €400bn rescue fund to shore up ailing European [...]

  Asian stock markets fell sharply Monday, with sentiment soured by renewed anxiety about Europe’s debt problems and heavy Wall Street losses before the weekend. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average lost 2 percent at 8,562.47 as the index hit fresh six-month intraday lows. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 3.2 percent to 19,231.69. In Australia, [...]

  Asian markets rose Thursday after stocks in Europe and the U.S. closed higher on a surge in demand for cars and planes in July that offered an unexpectedly upbeat sign of life in the U.S. economy.   Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.7 percent in early trading to 8,788.99. Export shares were buoyed by [...]

  Asian stocks extended losses, with South Korea’s benchmark shedding 5 percent on Friday on growing fears the US economy was sliding into recession and as some European lenders faced short-term funding strains, raising fears of a systemic banking crisis on the continent. Spot gold rose more than 1 percent to an all-time high of [...]