Overseas Trading: Travel Stocks Slump as Terror Anxiety Reigns

Asian markets ended mostly lower today, after bomb threats diverted two Air France flights en route from the U.S. to Paris. The news weighed heavily on Japan Airlines and its sector peers, though a tame yen allowed Tokyo's benchmark to eke out a positive finish. Elsewhere, property stocks rallied in China following the latest home-price data, but weakness in copper and gold sparked losses for miners and commodity stocks. By the close, China's Shanghai Composite fell nearly 1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.3%, South Korea's Kospi shed 0.04%, and Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.09%.

European markets are also on edge, after a police raid on the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis resulted in two deaths and seven arrests -- but no clear information on the fate of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian mastermind behind last Friday's terrorist attacks. At midday, airlines and travel stocks are among the top decliners. Currently, the French CAC 40 is down 0.8%, the German DAX is off 0.4%, and London's FTSE 100 is 0.04% lower.