* Hong Kong protests, Argentine peso collapse unsettle
markets
* Europe ensures world shares stay down for third straight
day
Sentiment already weak due to U.S.-China trade war
* Risk-off trades support safe-haven assets
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Share markets fell for a third
straight day on Tuesday as fears about a drawn out global trade
war, protests in Hong Kong and a crash in Argentina's peso
currency kept investors huddled in bonds, gold, and the Japanese
yen for safety.
Early 0.3%-0.6% drops from Europe's main indexes after some
heavy falls in China, Hong Kong, Japan and other parts of Asia
left MSCI's main 47-country world index .MIWD00000PUS down
nearly 4% for August so far.
Hong Kong's airport, the world's busiest cargo hub, had
reopened after protests closed it the previous day, but the mood
remained febrile after weeks of increasingly violent
demonstrations in the Chinese-ruled territory. Investors were also still assessing the wider damage caused
by Monday's crash in Argentina after its President Mauricio
Macri became the latest pro-free market, pro-reform leader to be
given a beating at the polls by a populist rival.
The response was brutal. The peso collapsed 15%, equities
.MERV crumbled 48% in dollar terms --the second biggest
one-day slump anywhere since 1950-- and the bond market crashed,
with a 100-year bond that investors had recently gobbled up
tumbling 20% as fears of yet another government default spiked.
"Yes, Argentina is a small economy. However, the last thing
global markets want to see is another market-friendly government
fall to populism and/or geopolitics," said Rabobank strategist
Michael Every.
He added the "wall of worry" also now includes: the trade
war, Brexit, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Kashmir, North
Korea, South China Sea, Turkey, and Venezuela. "Did I miss
anything with tired eyes?"
With so much uncertainty around, Europe's traditional safety
play, the 10-year German government bond, saw yields hit a new
record low. GVD/EUR
Equivalent U.S. Treasury yields were straining for their
lowest in almost three years, gold was pinned close to six-year
highs and the yen was within a whisker of a seven-month peak
versus the dollar.
ING analysts said the yen was benefiting "from the best of
both worlds", pointing to general risk aversion and a rush to
price in more interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. They
think the yen, at 105.32 JPY= in Europe, will rally to 102 or
103 per dollar later this year.
There was also the danger that moves could be amplified as
many traders and investors are off for European and U.S. summer
holidays. Yet, there was no shortage of gloomy news for
investors looking to catch their breath from several months of
market ructions.
PANIC AND CHAOS
The weeks-long protests in Hong Kong began in opposition to
a bill allowing extraditions to mainland China but have quickly
morphed into the biggest challenge to China's authority over the
city since it took Hong Kong back from Britain in 1997.
A state of "panic and chaos" now exists, the city's
embattled leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday, defying fresh calls
to quit.
As she spoke, the benchmark Hang Seng index .HSI hit a
seven-month low. By the close, it had dropped 2.1%, dragging
down markets across Asia and taking its losses past 6% since the
protests began in June.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares .MIAP00000PUS
skidded 1.2% as Chinese stocks .CSI300 and the Nikkei in Tokyo
both fell around 1% too.
The dive for safety pushed gold XAU= up another 0.5% to
$1.523 per ounce and its latest six-year high.
Oil prices meanwhile held their ground as expectations that
major producers will continue to reduce supplies balanced out
worries about sluggish economic growth.
Brent crude inched up to $58.74 while U.S. West Texas
Intermediate futures CLc1 were flat at $54.81 a barrel.
It comes too with Saudi Arabia repushing plans to float its
national oil company Saudi Aramco in what could be the world's
largest initial public offering (IPO).
"With Saudi Aramco reportedly eyeing an IPO once again,
there is some support to the idea that Saudi Arabia has a
heightened interest in strong crude prices and will cut its own
output accordingly," Vienna-based consultancy JBC Energy said.
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