US & GLOBAL
• Bursa saham AS jatuh tertekan bencana gempa bumi di Jepang, namun demikian, selain kepada industri khusus seperti industri tenaga nuklir, dampak
gempa Jepang terhadap ekuitas diperkirakan tidak akan berlangsung lama. Meskipun melemah, namun volume perdagangan sangat rendah dibandingkan
dengan sesi perdagangan yang di dominasi aksi jual lainnya, dimana hanya 7,68 miliar lembar saham yang diperdagangkan di New York Stock Exchange,
American Stock Exchange dan Nasdaq, di bawah rata‐rata harian tahun lalu sebesar 8,47 miliar. Pelemahan tajam bursa akhir‐akhir ini biasanya dibarengi
dengan penjualan saham dengan volume yang tinggi. Pelabuhan Jepang menangani sekitar 7% dari produk industri negara tersebut yang tengah mengalami
kerusakan besar, dengan demikian maka kondisi ini cukup mengganggu arus pengiriman barang secara global. Indeks Dow Jones <. DJI> turun 51,24 poin
atau 0,43% ke 11,993.16, S&P500 <. SPX> turun 7,89 poin atau 0,60% ke 1,296.39 dan Nasdaq <. IXIC> turun 14.64 poin atau 0,54% ke 2,700.97.
• Harga emas naik terdorong krisis nuklir di Jepang dan kerusuhan politik yang meningkat di kawasan Arab yang memicu pembelian aset safe haven. Emas juga
mendapat manfaat dari pelemahan dollar AS terhadap mata uang utama dunia lainnya, tetapi analis mengatakan pembelian dibatasi oleh ketidakpastian
mengenai apakah arus repatriasi yen akan terus berlanjut. Total perdagangan berjangka di bursa COMEX hanya sepertiga di bawah rata‐rata perdagangan
dalam 30‐hari. Harga emas <XAU=> naik 0.5% ke 1,424.71 USD per troy ounce.
• Harga minyak mentah tidak banyak berubah dalam sesi perdagangan yang cukup volatile. Berlanjutnya pelemahan harga minyak dunia tertahan oleh isu
kerusuhan Timur Tengah dan menguatnya harga distilat berjangka yang terangkat oleh ekspektasi naiknya impor bahan bakar Jepang untuk menutupi
ditutupnya kilang minyak akibat gempa. Harga minyak minyak mentah Brent untuk pengiriman April <LCOc1> turun 17 sen ke 113,67 USD per barel,
sedangkan minyak mentah Crude AS untuk pengiriman April <CLc1> naik 3 sen ke 101,19 USD per barel, setelah sempat menembus level 98,47 USD ‐ harga
intraday terendah sejak 01 Maret.
• Dollar AS anjlok terhadap yen pada sesi perdana awal pekan ini, dan diperkirakan akan terus melemah untuk mencoba menembus level terendah sepanjang
masa menyusul maraknya aksi repatriasi oleh perusahaan‐perusahaan dan perusahaan asuransi asal Jepang untuk menangani klaim asuransi dan biaya
rekontruksi berkaitan dengan bencana gempa yang melanda. Dollar AS sempat turun ke level 80.60 yen, mendekati level terendah sepanjang masa di 79.75
yang terjadi pada 1995 silam.
• Hingga akhir sesi New York, dollar AS tercatat melemah 0.3% ke 81.67 yen <JPY=>, setelah sempat rebound ke 82.43 yen menyusul aksi intervensi dari BOJ
yang menaikkan skema pembelian asetnya menjadi 10 triliun yen dan mengucurkan likuiditas ke perbankan sebagai salah satu upaya untuk menstabilkan
ekonomi yang terdampak dari gempa terbesar sepanjang sejarah.
• Euro tercatat menguat 0,6% terhadap dollar AS ke 1.3994, mendapat sokongan dari tercapainya persetujuan antara pemimpin‐pemimpin Uni‐Eropa di
Brussels guna dalam hal dana bailout dan pinjaman murah. Euro sempat menguat hingga level 1.4003 terdorong komentar dari Chairman Eurogroup ‐ Jean‐
Claude Juncker yang menyatakan bahwa telah terjadi peningkatan tekanan inflasi secara signifikan – komentar yang mendukung proyeksi kenaikan suku
bunga yang selama ini didengungkan pejabat ECB. Pada sesi in pelaku perhatian pelaku pasar akan tertuju pada sidang The Fed terutama berfokus pada
bagaimana The Fed akan membantu pemerintah mengatasi pengangguran dan pemulihan ekonomi secara umum.
FUKUSHIMA, Japan | Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:45pm EDT
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan's prime minister warned that radioactive levels had become "significantly" higher around an earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant on Tuesday after explosions at two reactors, and the French embassy said a low level radioactive wind could reach Tokyo in 10 hours.
Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility north of Tokyo to remain indoors, underscoring the dramatic worsening of Japan's nuclear crisis, the world's most serious since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
"There has been a fire at the No. 4 reactor and radiation levels in the surrounding area have heightened significantly. The possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening," a grim-faced Kan said in an address to the nation.
"We are making every effort to prevent the leak from spreading. I know that people are very worried but I would like to ask you to act calmly."
The French embassy in the capital warned in an advisory that a low level of radioactive wind could reach Tokyo -- 240 km (150 miles) south of the plant -- in about 10 hours.
Winds over the facility are blowing slowly in a southwesterly direction that includes Tokyo but will shift westerly later on Tuesday, a weather official said.
The reactor operator asked the U.S. military for help, while Kyodo news agency said radiation levels nine times normal levels had been briefly detected in Kanagawa near Tokyo.
As concern about the crippling economic impact of the double disaster mounted, Japanese stocks plunged nearly 9.0 percent to their lowest level in nearly two years, compounding a drop of 7.6 percent the day before. The two-day fall has wiped more than $500 billion off the market.
There have been a total of four explosions at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami. The most recent were blasts at reactors No. 2 and No. 4 earlier on Tuesday.
Authorities had previously been trying to prevent meltdowns in the Fukishima Daiichi complex's nuclear reactors by flooding the chambers with sea water to cool the reactors down down.
Air China said it had canceled flights from Beijing and Shanghai to Tokyo.
In Tokyo, travel agents said there had been a rise in inquiries from foreigners seeking to leave the country, but local residents were cancelling vacations abroad saying now was not the time to travel. The capital's Narita airport said there had been no surge in passenger traffic.
There has been panic buying in Tokyo.
Don Quixote, a multi-storey, 24-hour general store in Tokyo's Roppongi district, sold out of radios immediately after the quake. It also sold out of flashlights, candles, gasoline containers and sleeping bags.
The full extent of the destruction wreaked by last Friday's massive quake and tsunami that followed it was still becoming clear, as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.
Kan has said Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War Two and, with the financial costs estimated at up to $180 billion, analysts said it could tip the world's third-biggest economy back into recession.
The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded the quake to magnitude 9.0, from 8.9, making it the world's fourth most powerful since 1900.
Car makers, shipbuilders and technology companies worldwide scrambled for supplies after the disaster shut factories in Japan and disrupted the global manufacturing chain.
BLAST DAMAGES ROOF, WORKERS TOLD TO LEAVE
The fear at the Fukushima plant is of a major radiation leak after the quake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems.
Jiji news agency said the first explosion on Tuesday damaged the roof and steam was rising from the complex. Some workers were also told to leave the plant, a development one expert had warned beforehand could signal a worsening of the crisis.
The worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 has drawn criticism that authorities were ill-prepared and revived debate in many countries about the safety of atomic power.
"You're above Three Mile Island but you're nowhere near a Chernobyl ... Chernobyl there was no impediment to release, it just blew everything out into the atmosphere," said Murray Jennex, professor at San Diego State University in California.
"You've still got a big chunk of the containment there holding most of it in."
Switzerland put on hold some approvals for nuclear power plants and Germany said it was scrapping a plan to extend the life of its nuclear power stations. The White House said U.S. President Barack Obama remained committed to nuclear energy.
Whilst the Fukuskima plant's No.1 and No.3 reactors both suffered partial fuel rod meltdowns, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) had earlier said the No.2 reactor was now the biggest concern.
A sudden drop in cooling water levels when a pump ran out of fuel had fully exposed the fuel rods for a time, an official said. This could lead to the rods melting down and a possible radioactive leak.
TEPCO had resumed pumping sea water into the reactor early on Tuesday.
U.S. warships and planes helping with relief efforts moved away from the coast temporarily because of low-level radiation. The U.S. Seventh Fleet described the move as precautionary.
South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines said they would test Japanese food imports for radiation.
TOWNS FLATTENED
About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.
"The situation here is just beyond belief, almost everything has been flattened," said the Red Cross's Fuller in Otsuchi, a town all-but obliterated. "The government is saying that 9,500 people, more than half of the population, could have died and I do fear the worst."
Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday's wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.
"When the tsunami struck, I was trying to evacuate people. I looked back, and then it was like the computer graphics scene I've seen from the movie Armageddon. I thought it was a dream . it was really like the end of the world," said Tsutomu Sato, 46, in Rikuzantakata, a town on the northeast coast.
Estimates of the economic impact now starting to emerge.
Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion) just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.
Even that would put it above the commonly accepted cost of the 1995 Kobe quake which killed 6,000 people.
The earthquake has forced many firms to suspend production and global companies -- from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders -- face disruptions to operations after the quake and tsunami destroyed vital infrastructure, damaged ports and knocked out factories.
"The earthquake could have great implications on the global economic front," said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lec Securities in New York. "If you shut down Japan, there could be a global recession."
