Asian stocks fall from record high
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
SINGAPORE, June 19 (Bloomberg): Asian stocks fell after a report showed confidence in the US homebuilding industry slipped to a 16-year low and oil prices traded near the highest in nine months.
Nissan Motor Co. and James Hardie Industries NV led a drop among companies that rely on US sales on concern growth in the world's largest economy will slow. Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Hanjin Shipping Co. fell on speculation rising fuel costs will erode profits, while Woodside Petroleum Ltd. gained.
``While we're seeing that US growth isn't as weak as we had feared, the problems with housing have always been a risk,'' said Teo Chon Kiat, who helps manage about $8 billion at DBS Asset Management Ltd. in Singapore. ``Rising crude-oil prices will also have an impact on investors' sentiment, even though we're not seeing this filter into inflation yet.''
Declines were limited as brokerages including Merrill Lynch & Co. raised their ratings on Daiichi Sankyo Co., Japan's second- largest drugmaker, to ``buy.'' South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. jumped after Daewoo Securities Co. said the building industry was entering a period of ``long-term growth.''
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 153.15 as of 5:25 p.m. in Tokyo, halting a three-day, 2.6 per cent rally that lifted the regional measure to a record high yesterday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.1 per cent to 18,163.61, while the broader Topix index dropped 0.4 per cent. Measures rose elsewhere, except in Thailand, the Philippines and Pakistan. Markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 0.1 per cent yesterday in the US, paced by homebuilders Lennar Corp. and Centex Corp. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of sentiment declined to 28 this month from 30 in May, the lowest since February 1991.
Nissan Motor Co. and James Hardie Industries NV led a drop among companies that rely on US sales on concern growth in the world's largest economy will slow. Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Hanjin Shipping Co. fell on speculation rising fuel costs will erode profits, while Woodside Petroleum Ltd. gained.
``While we're seeing that US growth isn't as weak as we had feared, the problems with housing have always been a risk,'' said Teo Chon Kiat, who helps manage about $8 billion at DBS Asset Management Ltd. in Singapore. ``Rising crude-oil prices will also have an impact on investors' sentiment, even though we're not seeing this filter into inflation yet.''
Declines were limited as brokerages including Merrill Lynch & Co. raised their ratings on Daiichi Sankyo Co., Japan's second- largest drugmaker, to ``buy.'' South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. jumped after Daewoo Securities Co. said the building industry was entering a period of ``long-term growth.''
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 153.15 as of 5:25 p.m. in Tokyo, halting a three-day, 2.6 per cent rally that lifted the regional measure to a record high yesterday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.1 per cent to 18,163.61, while the broader Topix index dropped 0.4 per cent. Measures rose elsewhere, except in Thailand, the Philippines and Pakistan. Markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 0.1 per cent yesterday in the US, paced by homebuilders Lennar Corp. and Centex Corp. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of sentiment declined to 28 this month from 30 in May, the lowest since February 1991.