The Nikkei 225 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange fell 339.64 points to 20,200.15 in the first few minutes of trading, as investors digested news of the vote.
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But mainland Chinese shares jumped, recovering from their recent swoon after 28 companies agreed to postpone planned initial public offerings and brokerages pledged more than $19 billion for a fund to stabilize the free-falling market. The Shanghai Composite Index was flat having been up over 7% at one stage.
LONDON, July 6 European shares headed for a sharp drop on Monday after Greeks rejected austerity measures demanded in return of a debt deal, raising concerns about the country’s exit from the euro zone.
Brussels: The European Union urged the Greek government to make “meaningful” and “possible” proposals in coming hours for renegotiation, following early results which have shown that Greece overwhelmingly rejected the bloc’s bailout offer. “It’s surprising that the “no” vote won so convincingly, certainly more decisively than the polls had suggested”.
“The “Greferendum” has turned out to be a “Grief-erendum” at many levels”, analysts at Japan’s Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
The scope for compromise in future negotiations on a financial rescue package for Greece remains unclear.
United Kingdom equities were among the top performers in the European markets with the FTSE 100 Index trading lower by only 0.60 percent.
In Vienna, Mr Kerry said on Sunday that while progress continued to be made on a nuclear agreement, “we are not yet where we need to be on several of the most hard issues”. Santos was down 1.42% to $7.63 and LNG 0.99% to $4.00. Shares were lower in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia and were expected to take a hit across Asia and beyond.
Wall Street looked likely to have a rough start after the Independence Day weekend, with both Dow and S&P futures down 1.0 percent. The dollar index added 0.2% to 96.279. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande called for an emergency leaders’ summit on Tuesday.
The vote leaves Greece in uncharted waters: risking a banking collapse that could force it out of the euro.
Central banks have been preparing for the worst. Gold traded mostly within the range of $1,167 – $1,170 on Friday night but has now gapped up and at this very moment trading at $1,173. The dollar slipped 0.1 percent to 122.77 Japanese yen. “It does not give one any confidence that the same institutions understand the need for major reform that even the pro European Union lobby accept must happen”. The benchmark USA contract tumbled $2.75 to $54.21 a barrel in New York.
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In commodities, gold got a minor lift to $1,167.93 an ounce but Brent crude lost 75c to $59.57 a barrel.
