Nov. 20 -- Asian stocks fell for a fourth day. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. led banks lower after Goldman, Sachs & Co. told investors to sell shares of Citigroup Inc., renewing concern that losses tied to U.S. mortgages will increase.
Samsung Electronics Co. paced a decline among companies with U.S. businesses after Lowe's Cos. cut its earnings forecast and as more economists said the U.S., Asia's biggest overseas market, may enter a recession. Japanese exporters such as Honda Motor Co. also dropped after the yen strengthened against the dollar. U.S. stocks sank to three-month lows yesterday.
``There's no escaping the negative impact from the tumbling U.S. market,'' said Terunobu Kinoshita, who helps manage $785 million at Fund Creation Co. in Tokyo. ``If U.S. consumer spending starts to deteriorate, stocks here will be subject to another round of selling.''
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia Pacific Index slid 1.7 percent to 155 as of 10:20 a.m. in Tokyo, taking its four-day drop to 4.5 percent. All 10 of its industry groups fell. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.7 percent to 14,793.07 in Tokyo. All markets open for trading in the region declined.
Mounting concerns that subprime losses at financial companies globally will increase contributed to a 9.5 percent slide in MSCI's Asia Pacific index this month. The stock benchmark is on course for its worst month since September 2001.
Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank, was cut to ``sell'' by Goldman on the view that the lender's writedowns of collateralized debt obligations may total $15 billion over the next two quarters. That would be in addition to the $11 billion in writedowns already announced this month.
Subprime Losses
Mizuho, Japan's second-largest bank, slid 3 percent to 510,000 yen. The company last week cut its full-year profit forecast citing losses on investments in U.S. mortgage securities.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan's third-biggest publicly traded lender, lost 2.8 percent to 767,000 won. The company reported a 30 percent decline in first-half net income as it took a charge of 32 billion yen ($292 million) on subprime mortgage investments.
Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia's biggest securities firm, fell 2.4 percent to A$78.60. The slump in U.S. subprime mortgages contributed to the value of a fund sliding 27 percent in July, Macquarie previously said.
Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest exporter, fell 2.4 percent to 528,000 won. James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., lost 2.9 percent to A$6.48. Japan's Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker by market value, slid 2.1 percent to 5,990 yen.
More Selling?
Lowe's, the second-largest U.S. home improvement retailer, slashed its full-year profit forecast for the second time in as many months because of the slumping housing market. Meanwhile, the number of economists forecasting the U.S. will slip into recession almost doubled over the last two months, a survey by the National Association for Business Economics showed.
Separately, a survey by the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association showed that U.S. consumers plan to spend less this year on holiday shopping.
``If U.S. consumer spending starts to deteriorate, stocks here will be subject to another round of selling,'' Fund Creation's Kinoshita said.
Japanese exporters also fell as the yen strengthened to 109.86 versus the dollar, from 110.38 at the close of trading in Tokyo yesterday. A stronger yen decreases the value of Japanese exporters' dollar-denominated sales when converted into local currency.
Canon Inc., the world's biggest maker of printers, declined 2.4 percent to 5,990 yen. Komatsu Ltd., the world's second- largest maker of construction machinery, slumped 3.9 percent to 3,000 yen.
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