ALARM AS MACAU GAMBLING SHARES HEAD SOUTH

Saturday October 8, 2011 :  Asian markets in turmoil as investors offload on fears of a slowdown in China
 
The week is off to a scary start in Asia, with a wide range of news agencies and business media reporting that shares in Macau gambling companies have taken a severe beating as investors sell off gaming stocks on fears that a heightened credit squeeze on private firms in China will hurt gambling revenues.
 
Investors priced in concerns of a deepening slowdown in China on a sector that had previously been seen as nearly bullet-proof to the global decline.
 
The reports indicate that Galaxy Entertainment dropped close to 20 percent, while SJM slid 19 percent, against a 4.6 percent fall in the Hang Seng Index. Sands China dropped 14.3 percent, while Melco International slipped by 13.6 percent and Wynn Macau was off by the same number.
 
Analysts said the selling was defying fundamentals with liquidity in Macau still ample. Macau is due to post its September gaming revenues this week.
 
The island gambling mecca’s casinos suffered big losses last Friday.