Global Stocks Sink Tuesday             11/20 05:51

   Asian stocks slid Tuesday after tech losses dragged down Wall Street and 
Nissan's chairman was arrested on financial charges.

   BEIJING (AP) -- Asian stocks slid Tuesday after tech losses dragged down 
Wall Street and Nissan's chairman was arrested on financial charges.

   KEEPING SCORE: In early trading, Germany's DAX index lost 0.8 percent to 
11,156.08 points and France's CAC 40 shed 0.7 percent to 4,951.75. London's 
FTSE 100 retreated 0.4 percent to 6,969.74. On Monday, the DAX dropped 0.9 
percent, the CAC gave up 0.8 percent and the FTSE 100 slipped 0.2 percent. Wall 
Street looked set for a lower opening, with the future for the benchmark 
Standard & Poor's 500 index off 0.6 percent and that for the Dow Jones 
Industrial Average down 0.4 percent.

   ASIA'S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.1 percent to 2.645.88 and 
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1.1 percent to 21,583.12. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 2 
percent to 25,840.34 and Seoul's Kospi retreated 0.9 percent to 2,082.58. 
Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 was 0.4 percent lower at 5,671.80 and India's Sensex 
declined 0.6 percent to 35,559.08. Benchmarks in Taiwan, New Zealand and 
Southeast Asia retreated.

   WALL STREET: Apple, Microsoft and Amazon sustained some of the worst losses 
as technology companies tumbled again, leading to broad losses. The Dow briefly 
fell 512 points. The S&P 500 fell 1.7 percent. The Dow closed down 1.6 percent. 
The Nasdaq composite skidded 3 percent. Boeing, a major exporter, gave up 4.5 
percent. Apple fell 4 percent and Amazon gave back 5.1 percent.

   NISSAN: Nissan said Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who engineered a turnaround at 
the automaker, was arrested on charges he underreported his income and misused 
company funds and will be fired. Nissan said Ghosn and another senior 
executive, Greg Kelly, were accused of offenses discovered during an 
investigation set off by a whistleblower. Kelly also was arrested. The 
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance sold 10.6 million cars last year, more than 
any other manufacturer. U.S.-traded shares of Nissan lost 5.8 percent, while 
Renault shares dropped 8.4 percent in Paris.

   U.S.-CHINA TRADE: Investors focused on simmering trade tension between 
Washington and Beijing after the two governments clashed at a weekend 
conference. The two countries have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of 
each other's goods in a fight over China's technology policy. Presidents Donald 
Trump and Xi Jinping are due to meet this month at a gathering of the Group of 
20 major economies. At the weekend meeting in Papua New Guinea, Trump's vice 
president, Mike Pence, criticized Beijing for intellectual property theft, 
forced technology transfers and unfair trading practices.

   ANALYST'S QUOTE: "The conviction for a bounce back into the year end for 
equity markets can be seen slowly diminishing as worries across a variety of 
issues entrench themselves," Jingyi Pan of IG said in a report. Pan said 
investors are shifting to safe havens amid uncertainty ahead of the G20 meeting.

   ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 37 cents to $56.83 per barrel in 
electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 52 
cents on Monday to $57.20. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 
54 cents to $66.25 per barrel in London. It added 3 cents the previous session 
to $66.79.

   CURRENCY: The dollar edged down to 112.45 yen from Monday's 112.53 yen. The 
euro gained to $1.1470 from $1.1454. 


(BE)