* Japan stocks in biggest decline since October 2008
* U.S., European shares fall on fears over global recovery
* Emerging market stocks up on rebuilding hopes
* U.S. crude dips to $100/bbl on Japan impact on demand
* Dollar rebounds againt yen; gold ticks up
(Updates New York trading)
By Rodrigo Campos and Al Yoon
NEW YORK, March 14 (Reuters) - World stocks fell to
six-week lows on Monday on fears over the global economic
impact from Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami and as
officials grappled with a nuclear crisis.
Oil prices fell on expectations of slower demand from
Japan, while growing unrest in a Yemeni area bordering Saudi
Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, limited losses.
Japanese stocks posted their biggest daily decline since
October 2008 in record volume as investors speculated on
economic losses. The Nikkei index <> closed off 6.2
percent and the broader TOPIX index <> slumped 7.5
percent.
European and U.S. stocks tumbled on fears that the crisis
in Japan, the world's third largest economy, could derail a
global recovery.
"The earthquake could have great implications on the global
economic front," said Andre Bakhos, director of market
analytics at Lek Securities in New York. "If you shut down
Japan, there could be a global recession."
Credit Suisse estimated Japan's losses could total 15
trillion yen ($183 billion).
Japanese gross domestic product may slide by 1 trillion yen
in 2011, or about 0.2 percentage point, Hiromichi Shirakawa, a
Tokyo-based economist at Credit Suisse, said in a client note.
But deteriorating consumer confidence and production cuts could
worsen the GDP drop as much as 1 percentage point, he added.
While many details weren't known, Shirakawa estimated
direct and indirect losses would be short of the less powerful
January 1995 earthquake that devastated the western port city
of Kobe.
The U.S. dollar rebounded from near-record lows against the
yen after the Bank of Japan announced a series of policy easing
measures to shore up the economy.
Gold rose, recovering some of last week's losses, as the
Japanese quake drove safe-haven buying, driving prices toward
recent record highs.
The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> inched lower
throughout North American trading, falling 1.2 percent to
levels last seen in late January. It is down more than 4
percent from its February peak. The Thomson Reuters global
stock index <.TRXFLDGLPU> shed 1.4 percent.
Emerging market equities were lifted by construction and
refinery shares on expectations of large-scale reconstruction
efforts in Japan as the country confronted what officials there
called its biggest crisis since World War Two. For details see
[]
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <> dropped
1.3 percent, while emerging markets stocks <.MSCIEF> rose 0.5
percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> dropped 129.69
points, or 1.08 percent, to 11,914.71. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> declined 15.88 points, or 1.22 percent, to
1,288.40 and the Nasdaq Composite Index <> fell 31.93
points, or 1.18 percent, to 2,683.68.
The iShares MSCI Japan index exchange-traded fund <EWJ.P>
tumbled 8.8 percent, and the Global X Uranium ETF <URA.P>
dropped nearly 20 percent
Brent crude <LCOc1> edged lower by 0.8 percent to $112.95 a
barrel, while U.S. crude oil <CLc1> fell 1.2 percent to $99.96,
pressured by expecatations that oil demand in in Japan, the
world's third-largest oil consumer, would fall in the short- to
medium-term as economic activity stalls following the quake.
Conflicts in Libya and Yemen continued to be eyed by traders.
The dollar index <.DXY>, a gauge of the greenback against a
basket of currencies, fell 0.3 percent. The euro was up 0.4
percent at $1.3956 <EUR=> after European Union policymakers
surprised markets over the weekend by reaching significant
agreements ahead of the March 24-25 heads of state meeting.
The Japanese yen declined 0.2 percent to 81.73. The dollar
rebounded from a four-month low against the currency as the
Bank of Japan supplied banks with record funds to stabilize the
stricken economy.
Most U.S. Treasury debt prices rose on Monday as investors
looked for lower-risk assets while trying to gauge the eventual
impact of the Japanese disaster and watching political turmoil
in the Middle East and North Africa. Benchmark 10-year U.S.
Treasury yields fell 0.05 percentage point to 3.35 percent.
Spot gold prices rose $6.90, or 0.49 percent, to $1,423.90
an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Edward Krudy and Steven C. Johnson,
Robert Gibbons in New York and Japanese markets reporters;
Editing by Leslie Adler)
