HONG KONG (Reuters) - Stocks slid and the yen rose on Wednesday after news Bank of America needs $34 billion in fresh capital, sending shivers through investors ahead of official results of stress tests on U.S. banks due for release on Thursday.
U.S. S&P 500 futures were down 1 percent, indicating a lower market open later in the day on Wall Street, after a source familiar with the government test results on 19 banks told Reuters that Bank of America has been deemed to have additional capital needs worth nearly half its current market cap of $69.4 billion.
The yen strengthened across the board as dealers scrambled to relative safety, knocking the Australian dollar down 1.7 percent despite much stronger-than-expected Australian retail sales numbers.
"This could put a dent in the rally we've seen," said Jan Lambregts, head of Asia research at Rabobank in Hong Kong. "Definitely we'll have a breather until we get these (stress test) results. Perhaps there are a few surprises in there," Lambregts said.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 1.2 percent, after hitting a seven-month high on Tuesday. Cyclical sectors like energy and materials in addition to financials led the index lower.
Japan's markets were closed for a holiday. more...
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