Global market sell-off continues for second day

A weaker than expected Spanish bond auction and a signal from the Federal Reserve that QE3 is now on hold led to declines across Western and Eastern stock markets. Following on from the FTSE 100's closing loss of 2.3%, bringing it to 5704, the S&P 500 also shed 1.02% to close at 1,399. Asian shares were also largely in negative territory with the Hong Kong Hang Seng index posting a loss of 0.64% to close at 20,657 while the Nikkei 225 declined 0.53% to 9,768. Risk assets sold off after minutes from the Fed's 13 March meeting surprised markets in their more hawkish tone, appearing t...