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Nikkei -99.48 -0.8% 12,752.21
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NYMEX Crude Oil +5.62 +4.86% 121.18
Gold +22.70 +2.78% 839.00

Japan's stocks fall to 5-month low, led by financial companies
Japan stocks fell for a third day, sending the Topix to the lowest in almost five months, on concern financial companies won't be able to raise needed cash and HSBC Holdings Plc said credit costs at domestic banks will rise.
Daiwa Securities Group Inc., the nation's second-largest brokerage, lost 2.4 percent after the Financial Times said Lehman Brothers Inc. was unable to reach a stake sale agreement with South Korean and Chinese investors. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., the No. 3 listed bank by assets, dropped after HSBC said bad loans will erode earnings. Inpex Holdings Inc., Japan's largest oil and gas explorer, rose to a month high after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicted oil will rally this year.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 99.48, or 0.8 percent, to close at 12,752.21 in Tokyo. The broader Topix index sank 8.84, or 0.7 percent, to 1,224.53, the lowest since March 31. More than two shares fell for every one that rose on the Topix. Trading volume on the Tokyo exchange was the lowest since April 14.
Daiwa fell to 842 yen, the lowest close since April 10. Sumitomo Mitsui retreated 2.1 percent to 661,000 yen. Resona Holdings Inc. dropped 1.5 percent to 129,100 yen and bigger rival Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost 0.9 percent to 810 yen.
Orix Corp., Japan's biggest non-bank financial company, slumped 2.9 percent to 13,030 yen, sending a gauge of consumer lenders to the biggest drop among 33 industry groups on the Topix.
Nintendo Co., the maker of the Wii game machine, sank 3.6 percent to 48,600 yen in Osaka trading, reversing gains from yesterday when it broke its longest losing streak since Dec. 13. The company was sued by Maryland-based Hillcrest Laboratories Inc., which claims its motion-control inventions are being used in Nintendo's game console. The Japanese company declined to comment. Nintendo was the biggest contributor to the Topix's drop.
Inpex climbed a second day, adding 2.7 percent to 1.165 million yen, the highest since July 17. Sojitz Corp., a trading house with a stake in oil and gas projects in Australia, jumped 4.5 percent to 327 yen and posted the second-biggest advance on the Nikkei 225.
European stocks fell for the third time this week as concern deepened banks will report more writedowns and a rise in oil damped earnings prospects for airlines.
HSBC Holdings Plc and BNP Paribas SA lost 2.7 percent after Citigroup Inc. analysts predicted three U.S. banks will write down a combined $6.4 billion this quarter. Ryanair Holdings Plc slipped 3.1 percent as oil climbed more than $6 a barrel. Holcim Ltd. sank to the lowest in two weeks as the world's second- biggest cement maker said profit won't meet its target.
National benchmark indexes declined in 16 of the 18 western European markets.
Rising commodity prices have kept central banks from cutting interest rates even as the economy slows.
HSBC, Europe's largest bank, slipped 22 pence to 805.75. BNP Paribas, France's biggest bank, sank 1.59 euros to 56.81.
Citigroup analyst Prashant Bhatia cut his third-quarter earnings estimates for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, and estimated the three banks will write down a combined $6.4 billion for the period.
Separately, the Financial Times said Korea Development Bank and China's Citic Securities Co. abandoned talks to buy a stake in Lehman this month.
The cost of protecting bank debt from default rose to a five-week high. A benchmark gauge of European bank risk rose to the highest since July 16.
Ryanair, Europe's largest discount carrier, slipped 8.2 cents to 2.54 euros. Air France-KLM Group, the region's biggest airline, sank 3.8 percent to 15.61 euros. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest luxury-car maker, lost 3.4 percent to 27.73 euros.
Operating profit for 2008 will match last year's results on a comparable basis, the company said. That compares with a long- term target of 5 percent annual growth.
Persimmon Plc jumped 10 percent to 327 pence. The U.K.'s biggest homebuilder by market value booked lower-than-estimated land writedowns.

Wall Street cuts losses as bank shares recover from bigger declines. Oil prices spike and the dollar dropsStocks trimmed losses Thursday as financial shares recovered slightly from opening declines. However, any comeback was limited as oil prices jumped nearly $4 a barrel and the dollar weakened.
Fannie and Freddie fears remained in place Thursday, although both stocks managed to bounce after the recent bloodletting. Fannie shares hit a 20-year low before bouncing back and Freddie hovered near an all-time low before rebounding.
Meanwhile, jobless claims fell for the second week in a row, the Philadelphia Fed index showed continued weakness in manufacturing and an index of leading economic indicators fell more than expected.
Concerns about Lehman's solvency were also in focus after a Citi Investment Research analyst cut his third-quarter forecasts for the bank, along with those of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. The analyst also forecast steep quarterly writedowns related to bad mortgage bets for all three banks.
Lehmanshares dropped nearly 3%, while Morgan and Goldman shares were down just 1% in the early going.
Lehman's money problems led the firm to hold secret talks with South Korean and Chinese investors to try and sell up to half of its shares, the Financial Times reported, although no deal was reached. However, the Chinese firm in question denied any knowledge of talks with the company.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Reserve quizzed Credit Suisse last month about a rumor that it had pulled a line of credit from Lehman. However, Credit Suisse reportedly said that it had not done so and had no plans to.
U.S. light crude oil for October delivery rose $3.91 to $119.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with investors seeing the weaker U.S. dollar and the renewed worries about the economy as a reason to get back into commodities.
The Philadelphia Fed index, a regional manufacturing survey, posted a reading of -12.7 versus forecasts for a bigger drop. The prior month's reading was -16.3. Any reading that is negative suggests weakness, while a positive reading suggests growth.
The index of leading economic indicators (LEI) slumped 0.7% in July, topping forecasts. June LEI was revised to neutral from an initial decline of 0.1%.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment fell last week by more than expected, the government reported. However, the figure remained above the key 400,000 level for the fifth week in a row.