New Zealand/Australia Morning Call-Global markets

-----------------------(07:04 / 1804
GMT)-----------------------
Stock Markets
S&P/ASX 200 5,289.10 +203.00 NZSX 50 3,467.26
+48.63
DJIA 12,232.12 -160.54 Nikkei 12,260.44
+296.28
NASDAQ 2,242.50 -25.76 FTSE 5,545.60
-60.20
S&P 500 1,314.32 -16.42 Hang Seng 21,384.61
+482.33
SPI 200 Fut 5,259.00 -36.00 CRB Index 389.55
-15.22
Bonds
AU 10 YR Bond 94.010 +0.090 US 10 YR Bond 3.378
-0.125
NZ 10 YR Bond 6.680 +0.005 US 30 YR Bond 4.246
-0.109
Currencies (Prev at 7pm NZST)
AUD US$ 0.9159 0.9324 NZD US$ 0.8014
0.8129
EUR US$ 1.5661 1.5691 Yen US$ 98.91
99.21
Commodities
Gold (Lon) 958.50 Silver (Lon) 19.880

Gold (NY) 981.50 Light Crude 104.35

___________________________(March
20)___________________________
Overnight market action. An updated report will be sent after
the close of New York markets.

EQUITIES

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks extended losses on Wednesday in
volatile trading a day after the Fed's rate cut, as investors
sold stocks to take some profits from Tuesday's rally and
cheaper oil prices hurt energy shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI shed 138.81 points,
or 1.12 percent, to 12,253.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
.SPX was down 13.30 points, or 1.00 percent, at 1,317.44. The
Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was down 21.74 points, or 0.96
percent, at 2,246.52.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index .VIX,
or VIX, which is Wall Street's favorite fear gauge, was up more
than 7 percent.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 made its biggest one-day jump in
more than five years after the Federal Reserve cut short-term
U.S. interest rates by 75 basis points. The Fed's decision,
which was expected, brought the benchmark fed funds rate for
overnight bank loans down to 2.25 percent from 3.0 percent.

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LONDON - The FTSE 100 index .FTSE of Britain's leading
shares ended down 1.1 percent on Wednesday as fresh concerns
over the health of the UK banking sector weighed on financial
stocks and miners also fell.

The Bank of England said on Wednesday it had not met any
British bank or scheduled to meet any to discuss potential
problems, in a rare response to market speculation that a bank
could face trouble -- which sent some banks down sharply in
early trade.

HBOS (HBOS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) closed down 7.1 percent, having tumbled as
much as 17 percent to a record low earlier. Royal Bank of
Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) fell about 2.9 percent and Alliance &
Leicester (ALLL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) shed 2.7 percent.

The blue-chip index was 60.2 points lower at 5,545.6 having
touched a high of 5,653.6 earlier in the day during an
extremely choppy session.

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TOKYO - Japan's Nikkei share average rose 2.5 percent on
Wednesday as investors snapped up exporters such as Toyota
Motor Corp (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) after a big interest rate cut in the U.S.
helped ease concerns over demand in a key market for Japanese
products.

Rises in bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and
other financial shares also drove the market higher as
investors took some relief from earnings results by Goldman
Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Lehman Brothers LEH.N, which came in above
forecasts.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co (4502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped 3.7 percent to
5,050 yen after a source said on Wednesday that Japan's biggest
drugmaker plans to spend some $5 billion to buy out Abbott
Laboratories Inc (ABT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in their 50-50 U.S. venture.
[ID:nT7155]

The benchmark Nikkei average .N225 ended up 2.5 percent
or 296.28 points at 12,260.44, rising for a second straight day
after hitting a 2-1/2-year low of 11,787.51 on Monday. The
broader TOPIX index gained 2.8 percent to 1,196.30.

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FOREIGN EXCHANGE

NEW YORK - The dollar briefly reversed losses against the
euro on Wednesday in volatile trading, drawing support from
losses in gold futures.

The euro was now at $1.5637, recovering from a dip to
$1.5604 <EUR=> as gold declined.

Gold futures, on the other hand, fell as much as 6 percent
to trade just above $940 per ounce, hurt by heavy liquidation
of funds.

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TREASURIES

NEW YORK - Treasury debt prices extended their gains on
Wednesday, with the 10-year note gaining one full point in
price, as a fall in U.S. stocksaccelerated a safe harbor bid
for government debt, traders said.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note's price, which moves
inversely to its yield, rose 1-4/32 for a yield of 3.37
percent
<US10YT=RR>, versus 3.50 percent late Tuesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell about 1.5
percent to 12,201 points.

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COMMODITIES

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GOLD

NEW YORK - Gold futures plunge as much as 6 percent to
trade just above $940 an ounce, hurt by heavy liquidation by
funds on the back of technical chart-based weakness and a sharp
pullback of crude oil prices. COMEX gold futures for April
delivery GCJ8 slides $58.20 or 5.8 percent to $946.10 an
ounce by 12:03 p.m. EDT (1603 GMT), dealing between $940.00 --
a three-week low, and $997.80. COMEX estimated gold volume at
200,910 lots by 11:00 a.m. Spot gold <XAU=> was at
$945.10/946.00, down sharply from New York's Tuesday late quote
of $1,002.30/1,003.10. The London afternoon gold fix was set at
$958.50 an ounce.

- - - -

BASE METALS

LONDON - Industrial metals lost ground on Wednesday, with
copper slipping to a one-month low as investors worried about
slower economic and demand growth.

Traders and analysts reported long liquidation by funds as
market participants did not want to carry big positions ahead
of the Easter holidays, when a majority of the European and
U.S. markets will be shut.

Copper MCU3, used in power and construction, fell to
$7,935 per tonne, its lowest level since Feb. 18, and closed at
$7,975 per tonne, down from Tuesday's close of $8,210.

Tin MSN3 traded at $20,700 a tonne from $20,650 on
Tuesday, when it hit a record high of $20,950 on worries about
supplies from top producers China and Indonesia.

Aluminium MAL3 ended at $2,920 a tonne from $2,992 on
Tuesday. The energy-intensive metal has been supported by
record high oil prices and output problems in South Africa.

Zinc MZN3 tumbled more than 5 percent at one point and
closed at $2,410, against $2,528 on Tuesday, and nickel MNI3
was at $29,350, down from $30,200.

Lead MPB3 fell $114 to $2,835 a tonne as speculators sold
after the metal used to make batteries failed to sustain levels
above $2,900 a tonne, traders said.

- - - -

OIL

NEW YORK - U.S. crude oil futures extended losses to more
than $5 midday on Wednesday as worries about the economy
overshadowed a bullish set of weekly inventory data.

Crude futures were also under pressure ahead of the
front-month NYMEX contract's expiration at the end of the
session.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:35 p.m. EDT (1635
GMT), April crude CLJ8 was down $4.57, or 4.18 percent, at
$104.85 per barrel, trading from $104.37 to $108.98.

In London, May Brent crude LCOK8 was down $3.97, or 3.76
percent, at $101.59 a barrel, trading from $101 to $105.10.

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