AirAsia Market News Update

Indonesia sent divers into the water on Sunday to examine wreckage from AirAsia Flight 8501, but operations slowed overall, with the weather allowing divers to enter the water only briefly.

A week after the Airbus A320 crashed into the Java Sea with 162 people aboard, Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency said Sunday that sonar imaging revealed a fifth large object in a search area off the southwest coast of Borneo, measuring nearly 10 meters (about 32 feet) in length. The agency said Saturday that it had found four main parts of the jetliner, with the largest measuring about 18 meters, on the seafloor. Divers haven’t made contact with that wreckage.

A total of 34 bodies had been recovered as of Sunday evening, and all had been sent to Surabaya, a port city on Java island where the flight originated, Soelistyo told reporters in Jakarta. But operations slowed overall on Sunday, with the weather allowing divers to enter the water only briefly.

Comex Market Update

Oil futures slid further downhill in electronic trade early Monday, with a rising dollar helping weigh on the commodity. Benchmark Nymex crude futures for February CLG5, -1.99% fell by $1.07, or 2%, to $51.62 a barrel on the Globex platform.

The contract -- which lost 1.1% in New York Mercantile Exchange action Friday -- traded as low as $51.40 earlier in the day, according to Reuters data, marking the weakest level for a front-month Nymex oil future since May 2009. 

Rival benchmark Brent North Sea crude LCOG5, -1.61% retreated 99 cents, or 1.8%, to $55.43 a barrel, extending a 0.2% drop on Friday. It too touched its lowest price since May 2009, Reuters said.

Current Market Update


Tokyo (Nikkei Average) up 0.4%
Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index) up 0.5% (at break) 
Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index) up 2.4% (at break) 
Sydney (S&P/ASX 200) flat 
Seoul (Kospi) down 0.7% 
Mumbai (Sensex) up 0.2% 
Taipei (Taiex) down 0.7%