Global stocks hit by Greece, India, healthcare worries
Monday, 22 March 2010, 23:59 IST
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Mumbai: The renewed investor fears over Greece's debt crisis and the sudden interest rate hike by India's central bank pulled down the global stocks. Pharmaceutical stocks were particularly in focus after the U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval to a sweeping healthcare reform, reports Reuters. The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI)'s all-country world stocks index .MIWD00000PUS was down around a third of a percent, with the emerging markets sub-index .MSCIEF down 0.8 percent. The falls took this year's gains for emerging market stocks - widely considered the best bet for returns by many investors - to barely even. There was continued confusion about what kind of support Greece might need or get to help it sort out its debt crisis. Germany urged Athens to solve its problems alone while Italy backed European Union support. At the same time, equity markets in Europe were being dragged lower by the pharma sector, now facing a new healthcare climate in the U.S. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 was down 0.5 percent. The STOXX Europe 600 health care index .SXDP lost around 0.6 percent.

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