TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares slipped further on Tuesday and investors braced for more volatility in Chinese markets as worries spread that tight liquidity could impede China's economic growth and take the shine off an emerging U.S. recovery.
Japan's Nikkei stock average <.n225> opened up 0.1 percent but quickly gave up early gains and fell 0.7 percent. <.t/>
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> eased 0.1 percent after shedding 1.8 percent to its lowest since early September the previous day.
"Volatility will rule the market today. The market is more than ripe for a technical rebound, but this probably won't happen as sentiment has deteriorated badly," said Ko Seung-hee, a market analyst at SK Securities, of Seoul shares.
Australian shares <.axjo> fell 0.2 percent on concerns about economic and financial instability in China, its main export market, while South Korean shares <.ks11> opened down 0.5 percent to a fresh 11-month low.
China shares suffered their worst daily loss in almost four years on Monday as the authorities showed more determination to curb the risks of shadow banking than accommodating the money market, raising fears of a potential credit squeeze.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index <.hsi> closed below the 20,000-point mark for the first time since September 11. and the Shanghai financial sub-index <.ssefn> skidded 7.3 percent in its worst day since November 2008 - during the financial crisis that started that year.
The sell-off sent most of the region's stock indexes well into oversold territory, with most Southeast Asian stocks falling to multi-month lows on Monday, where investor sentiment had already been hurt since the U.S. Federal Reserve said last week it would scale back its stimulus.
DOLLAR TAKES BREAK
Less than a week after the Fed set off a global market sell-off by announcing its intent to scale back stimulus, two Fed leaders - Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota and the head of the Dallas Fed Richard Fisher - downplayed an imminent end to monetary stimulus on Monday and said the acute market reaction was not yet cause for concern.
The dollar's rally slowed on the comments. It has been gaining on rising U.S. yields and the prospect of an improving U.S. economy that has let the Fed to hint at toning down its aggressive bond-buying scheme, which had channeled abundant funds to global markets and underpinned risk asset prices.
The dollar index <.dxy>, measured against a basket of major currencies, was down 0.04 percent at 82.390, after rising to a three-week high of 82.841 on Monday.
The shift out of assets that have benefited most from cheap money has been sharpest in the U.S. debt market, where yields on 10-year Treasury notes at one point spiked to a two-year high of 2.67 percent but dipped to 2.55 percent on Monday on recovering bond prices, which move in opposite direction to yields.
U.S. equities slumped but recovered some losses on the rise in Treasury bond prices, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> closed at a seven-month low on Monday. The Euro STOXX 50 Volatility index <.v2tx> hit a nine-month high, reflecting a sharp rise in risk aversion among investors.
U.S. crude futures were down 0.4 percent to $94.83 a barrel.
(Additional reporting by Jungyoun Park in Seoul; Editing by Eric Meijer)
Policy issues plague hydropower as wind power backupPublic release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer aem1@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State
Theoretically, hydropower can step in when wind turbines go still, but barriers to this non-polluting resource serving as a backup are largely policy- and regulation-based, according to Penn State researchers.
"We have a very clear realization that we need to make energy systems more sustainable," said Seth A. Blumsack, assistant professor of energy policy. "We want to reduce the environmental footprint -- carbon dioxide and conventional pollutants."
Americans also expect to have the system continue to work exactly as it is without blackouts and with low cost electricity. While wind and solar power are emission-free once installed, they are also subject to the whims of nature. The wind can suddenly cease to blow and an area can have minimal sunlight for days.
"Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the U.S.," said Alisha R. Fernandez, graduate student in energy and mineral engineering.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently examined the feasibility of producing 20 percent of U.S. electricity from wind by 2030.
"Texas is either there or close," said Blumsack. "During certain periods, as much as 30 percent of their energy is generated by wind."
Reliance on wind requires that there be some backup technology to fill in when the wind does not blow. The technology has to be capable of coming on line quickly. Two types of electrical generation that fit this bill are natural gas and hydropower, but natural gas is not carbon neutral.
The researchers looked at the Kerr Dam in North Carolina as a case study. They report their results in a recent issue of Environmental Research Letters. The power produced by the Kerr Dam goes into the PJM segment of the electric grid -- Pennsylvania through Virginia on the East Coast, west to Indiana and also includes the Chicago area -- but agreements made before establishment of the PJM market mean that the Kerr Dam also supplies other local outlets.
Hydroelectric dams cannot simply release water to meet some electricity demand or hold back water when electricity is in low demand. Plants operate using guide curves that consider not only electric production, but also drinking water needs, irrigation, fish and wildlife requirements, recreation and minimum levels for droughts. These guide curves are created by the government agencies regulating the particular dam -- in the case of Kerr, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- but in other places it could be the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Colorado River Authority or other entities. In practice, the guide curves are currently based on one-week weather forecasts and their parameters take into account the requirements of a large variety of interested parties.
The researchers determined that the Kerr Dam could accommodate the unexpected variations in wind energy, but only if those operating the dam were allowed to meet the guide curve requirements over a two-week rather than one-week period of time.
"Changing guide curves is complex, time-consuming and may even require an act of Congress," said Blumsack. "Another problem is that two weeks is at the outer margin of weather prediction."
If hydro plants do not pledge to sell their electricity to make up for the variability of wind energy, they sell their excess on the spot market. The researchers found that changing the pricing of electricity so that backing up wind is more lucrative than the spot market would not make these multipurpose hydro facilities more prone to supply backup to wind power.
"Operational conflicts may be significantly reduced if the time length of the guide curve schedule was altered, yet such regulatory changes prove quite challenging given the institutional barriers surrounding water rights in the U.S.," said the researchers, who also include Patrick M. Reed, professor of civil engineering, Cornell University.
###
The National Science Foundation supported this research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Policy issues plague hydropower as wind power backupPublic release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer aem1@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State
Theoretically, hydropower can step in when wind turbines go still, but barriers to this non-polluting resource serving as a backup are largely policy- and regulation-based, according to Penn State researchers.
"We have a very clear realization that we need to make energy systems more sustainable," said Seth A. Blumsack, assistant professor of energy policy. "We want to reduce the environmental footprint -- carbon dioxide and conventional pollutants."
Americans also expect to have the system continue to work exactly as it is without blackouts and with low cost electricity. While wind and solar power are emission-free once installed, they are also subject to the whims of nature. The wind can suddenly cease to blow and an area can have minimal sunlight for days.
"Wind is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the U.S.," said Alisha R. Fernandez, graduate student in energy and mineral engineering.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently examined the feasibility of producing 20 percent of U.S. electricity from wind by 2030.
"Texas is either there or close," said Blumsack. "During certain periods, as much as 30 percent of their energy is generated by wind."
Reliance on wind requires that there be some backup technology to fill in when the wind does not blow. The technology has to be capable of coming on line quickly. Two types of electrical generation that fit this bill are natural gas and hydropower, but natural gas is not carbon neutral.
The researchers looked at the Kerr Dam in North Carolina as a case study. They report their results in a recent issue of Environmental Research Letters. The power produced by the Kerr Dam goes into the PJM segment of the electric grid -- Pennsylvania through Virginia on the East Coast, west to Indiana and also includes the Chicago area -- but agreements made before establishment of the PJM market mean that the Kerr Dam also supplies other local outlets.
Hydroelectric dams cannot simply release water to meet some electricity demand or hold back water when electricity is in low demand. Plants operate using guide curves that consider not only electric production, but also drinking water needs, irrigation, fish and wildlife requirements, recreation and minimum levels for droughts. These guide curves are created by the government agencies regulating the particular dam -- in the case of Kerr, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- but in other places it could be the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Colorado River Authority or other entities. In practice, the guide curves are currently based on one-week weather forecasts and their parameters take into account the requirements of a large variety of interested parties.
The researchers determined that the Kerr Dam could accommodate the unexpected variations in wind energy, but only if those operating the dam were allowed to meet the guide curve requirements over a two-week rather than one-week period of time.
"Changing guide curves is complex, time-consuming and may even require an act of Congress," said Blumsack. "Another problem is that two weeks is at the outer margin of weather prediction."
If hydro plants do not pledge to sell their electricity to make up for the variability of wind energy, they sell their excess on the spot market. The researchers found that changing the pricing of electricity so that backing up wind is more lucrative than the spot market would not make these multipurpose hydro facilities more prone to supply backup to wind power.
"Operational conflicts may be significantly reduced if the time length of the guide curve schedule was altered, yet such regulatory changes prove quite challenging given the institutional barriers surrounding water rights in the U.S.," said the researchers, who also include Patrick M. Reed, professor of civil engineering, Cornell University.
###
The National Science Foundation supported this research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
We first heard about Rust-Oleum's liquid-repelling product, NeverWet almost two years ago. It looked absolutely magical, and now you can finally buy it.
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Public release date: 25-Jun-2013
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