Asian stock markets were generally weaker yesterday as investors started to digest the fallout from the world's most powerful earthquake for 40 years.
In Thailand, which with India and Sri Lanka were hardest-hit, stocks tumbled 2.2 per cent at one point, with airlines and other travel-related firms leading the fall. By the end of the day, however, the SET Index had rebounded to finish down just 0.96 per cent.
The impact on other stock markets was less severe, although those in South Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia fell. The Sri Lankan exchange remained closed as the island's death toll climbed into the thousands.
Equity markets in India and Indonesia reversed early losses to finish the day slightly higher and Tokyo's was unchanged. Those in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines were closed for the Christmas holidays.
The markets in India and Indonesia were more resilient in part because their countries are less dependent on foreign travellers than was Thailand, where tourism accounted for about 6 per cent of the economy, said Sakthi Siva, the head of Asian strategy at UBS in Singapore.
Several economists said it was too early to estimate the quake's economic impact but noted that unless more earthquakes or large aftershocks compounded the damage, it was unlikely to be extensive.
