[ti:Greek Vote, China Weigh on East Asia Stock Prices] [ar:Mario Ritter] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Share prices mostly fell on Asian stock markets Monday [00:05.64]after Greek voters rejected a European financial plan [00:10.50]requiring new cost-cutting measures. [00:13.60]Japan's main measure of stock prices, the Nikkei index, [00:19.87]lost more than two percent. [00:22.13]However, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary said [00:26.68]events in Greece had a limited effect on stock prices in his country. [00:32.90]Yoshihide Suga said "the ties between Japan and Greece economically [00:39.89]and in the financial markets are very limited." [00:43.94]He also said he believed the 19 countries using the euro as money would, [00:50.71]"take responsible actions to address the Greek situation." [00:56.11]Other major stock indexes in East Asia also fell. [01:01.14]South Korea's Kospi index fell two percent. [01:05.53]Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 3.2 percent -- [01:11.28]its largest drop in more than three years. [01:15.27]Concerns over the effects of the vote in Greece may have been partly to blame. [01:22.45]But falling stock prices in China also concerned investors. [01:28.72]Mainland China is Hong Kong's biggest trading partner. [01:33.84]On the mainland, stock price measures were mixed. [01:39.22]The Shanghai stock exchange index rose over two percent [01:44.99]after many days of declining prices. [01:48.19]The recent drop in Chinese stock prices is the sharpest in 20 years. [01:54.76]Shares on Chinese markets have lost more than 20 percent of their value -- [02:01.33]or $3 trillion dollars -- since June 12. [02:05.99]Financial experts say smaller investors are fleeing the stock market [02:12.38]and investing in housing and other real estate. [02:16.51]On Saturday, a group of 21 brokerage companies [02:21.38]said it would use $19 billion [02:25.97]to buy shares in an effort to support stock prices. [02:30.16]The move is supported by money borrowed from China's central bank. [02:36.03]But any efforts to support prices are small in comparison [02:42.45]to the total value of the current loses. [02:45.73]Tony Nash is an economist working in Singapore. [02:50.11]"You can't inject 120 (yuan) billion every weekend. [02:53.99]The markets lost something like $3 trillion over the last couple of months -- [02:57.38]that that's a drop in the bucket compared to [03:00.21]what would be needed to prop that market up." [03:02.35]Falling stock prices also have discouraged new stock offerings. [03:07.81]Nearly 30 Chinese companies have postponed their first stock sale to the public. [03:15.03]The stock value decline reverses a year of strong gains for Chinese stocks, [03:22.06]which more than doubled in value over the period. [03:25.99]Scott Kennedy is with the Centers for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. [03:33.36]He said, in the past, the stock market represented only a small part of China's economy. [03:40.97]Now, that has changed. Still, [03:45.30]he believes the country will reach its goal of seven percent economic growth this year. [03:51.88]I'm Mario Ritter. [03:54.62]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com