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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A geographical shift in the destination of Iran's foreign investments is hardly the stuff of global economic meltdowns, experts reckon, nor are alleged shenanigans at just one Japanese Internet firm.
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<br>But both events this week sent ripples through world markets and have raised concerns about how vulnerable the buoyant global economy would be if unprecedented international investment flows suddenly get spooked.
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<br>Reports of an investigation into Japanese Internet firm Livedoor on Tuesday sent Tokyo share prices plummeting and chilled stock markets around the world.
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<br>Iran's increasingly tense standoff with the international community over its nuclear program has unnerved investors all month as oil prices climbed back toward record highs in anticipation of any disruption to crude exports.
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<br>Tehran's announcement on Friday that it was pulling a least some of its substantial foreign investments out of European banks and putting it into other foreign accounts jarred currency markets.
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<br>Economists say these events are not significant enough in their own right to destabilize a global economy set to grow at more than 4 percent this year for the fourth year running.
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<br>But any damage to financial sentiment that may force international investors to panic or even rethink massive cross-border investments is extremely worrying, they say.
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<br>"Global imbalances are growing, cross-border financing needs are increasing and a smooth-functioning financial system is now essential for this," said Nouriel Roubini, professor at New York University and a former U.S. Treasury official.
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<br>"People are getting nervous about all sorts of asset classes," he added. "It's not inconceivable that mishaps on the Tokyo stock market like the one this week or this event is Iran could lead to the sort of sudden panic everyone fears."
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<br>And there is a palpable sense of unease among top policy-makers and financiers that one or a series of these seemingly random events could turn the whole environment ugly.
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<br>In an interview with Reuters this week, the U.S. Treasury's top international affairs diplomat, Tim Adams, said it was the risk of unforeseen events -- such as the 1998 collapse of mega-hedge fund Long Term Capital Management -- that worries him most about sustaining global economic health.
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