World Economy Is Slowly Recovering from `Panic`

International financial institutions and the raw material markets are recovering to some extent from the shocks of a massive terrorist attack in the U.S. European and Asian stock markets are on the rise again and the dollar is gaining stability. The price of gold and oil is going down as well.

On the other hand, the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ stock market remained closed.

Japan`s Nikkei index closed at 9,613.09 yen, up just 2.99 yen, yesterday. Nikkei fell below the 10,000 mark for the first time in 17 years on Wednesday, with 683 yen down. The FTSE index of Britain rose 2.33 percent, and the DAX index of Germany also rose 1.44 percent. The BOVESPA of Brazil, which was the only one opened in the Americas, rose 2.64 percent.

The value of dollar is gaining stability. The exchange rate of yen against dollar was 119.5 yen, up 0.3 yen from the previous day, in the London foreign currency exchange market. It was 119.4 yen in the Tokyo foreign currency exchange market yesterday.

Byeon Jae-Young, team chief of the foreign exchange monitoring of the Bank of Korea, said that ``as the 7 developed countries (G&) are supplying the currency sufficiently and are to stabilize the international financial markets, and are cooperating to stabilize the value of dollar, the international financial markets are restoring calm.``

The price of raw materials is going down. The price of Dubai was $25.3 per barrel on Wednesday, down $0.84 from the previous day. It is contrasting to the sudden rise from $24.85 to $26.14 on the day of terrorist attacks. European benchmark Brent blend crude oil was traded at $27.87, which was $0.78 down from the previous day. The price of gold marked $280 per ounce, down $10 from the previous day.

On the other hand, Taiwan`s TAIEX, which closed on Tuesday and reopened yesterday, dropped 224.44 points (5.37 percent).

hcs@donga.com