March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell, dragging the regional benchmark index to its biggest weekly drop since August, as a major earthquake hit Japan, violence spread in the Middle East and U.S. unemployment rose.
Honda Motor Co., the Japanese carmaker that gets about 44 percent of sales in North America, dropped 2.7 percent in Tokyo, where losses accelerated after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake shook buildings in the city’s financial center. Daelim Industrial Co., which gets 22 percent of sales from the Middle East, led South Korean construction companies lower after police broke up a protest in Saudi Arabia yesterday. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, lost 1 percent in Sydney after copper futures declined.
“The Japan earthquakes added another uncertainty to markets that were already plagued with turmoil in the Middle East and European debt concerns,” said Kang Shin Woo, chief investment officer at Seoul-based Korea Investment Management Co., which manages $17 billion. “This could raise concern for the Japanese economy that has showed some signs of recovery.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.1 percent to 134.59 as of 8:37 p.m. in Tokyo, the lowest level since Dec. 20. Almost nine times as many shares declined as advanced on the gauge, which lost 3.4 percent this week.
The index climbed 1.9 percent last week as better-than- estimated economic data from South Korea to the U.S. boosted confidence in a global recovery, overcoming concern that Middle East unrest will drive oil prices higher and slow growth.
Tsunami Strikes
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average decreased 1.7 percent after the country’s strongest earthquake in at least a century struck off the northern coast, shaking buildings violently as far away as Tokyo minutes before stock trading ended. The highest tsunami warning was issued for the northeast coast.
At least 26 people were killed by the 33-foot wave and many are missing, according to state broadcaster NHK Television, which showed footage of waves sweeping away buildings and vehicles as far as 1.5 kilometers inland. Airports were closed and bullet train services suspended. More than 4 million homes are without power, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
South Korea’s Kospi Index sank 1.3 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index closed down 1.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 1.6 percent.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.8 percent as government data showed the nation’s consumer prices rose 4.9 percent in February from a year earlier, exceeding the government’s 2011 target for a fifth month.
U.S. Unemployment
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.5 percent today. The index tumbled 1.9 percent yesterday in New York after the U.S. Labor Department said applications for first-time unemployment benefits rose by 26,000 to 397,000 in the week ended March 5, more than the median estimate of 376,000 forecast by economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
The U.S. Commerce Department separately said the deficit in goods and services increased 15 percent in January as a surge in imports led by costlier crude oil overshadowed record exports.
Honda Motor, which counts North America as its biggest market, slipped 2.7 percent to 3,310 yen in Tokyo. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, dropped 1.5 percent to 3,595 yen. Li & Fung Ltd., Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s biggest supplier, declined 2.9 percent to HK$44.25 in Hong Kong.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has almost doubled in the past two years. It sank to an eight-year low on March 9, 2009, following the bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008.
Debt Concerns
The gauge briefly extended declines yesterday afternoon after Moody’s Investors Service cut Spain’s credit rating, saying the cost of shoring up the banking industry will eclipse government estimates.
“The situation in the Middle East provided a trigger for the market correction and now we’re seeing renewed concerns about European debt, and there’s ongoing worries about monetary tightening in Asia,” Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy in Sydney at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., which manages about $93 billion, said on Bloomberg Television. “All of these concerns are combining and making investors somewhat nervous.”
Crude oil for April delivery declined 1.6 percent to settle at $102.70 a barrel in New York yesterday, after falling as much as 3.6 percent earlier. Oil pared losses after police in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s biggest producer of crude, reportedly opened fire at a rally in the east of the country.
Daelim Industrial slumped 4.7 percent to 101,000 won in Seoul. Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., which counts the Middle East as its biggest market outside of South Korea, dropped 2 percent to 77,200 won. GS Engineering & Construction Corp. declined 3.8 percent to 102,000 won.
‘Chilling Sentiment’
South Korean builders won $47.25 billion of orders from the Middle East last year, according to the Seoul-based Korea Trade- Investment Promotion Agency.
“Some news flow from Saudi are chilling sentiment toward builders again,” said Lee Jin Woo, a fund manager in Seoul at KTB Asset Management Co., which manages about $10 billion in assets. “Uncertainties over the situation in the Middle East may linger for a while.”
Raw material producers fell after the London Metal Exchange Index of six metals including copper and aluminum slid 0.4 percent yesterday, falling for a second day to the lowest level since Jan. 26.
BHP Billiton slid 1 percent to A$44.19 in Sydney. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-biggest mining company, declined 2 percent to A$78.80. Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s No. 1 producer of the metal, lost 1.7 percent to HK$23.10 in Hong Kong.
Convertible Bonds
IHI Corp., a Japanese heavy-machinery maker, slumped 4.3 percent to 203 yen in Tokyo after saying it plans to sell 23 billion yen ($278 million) of five-year convertible bonds to overseas investors.
CapitaMall Trust, Singapore’s biggest retail property trust, sank 1.1 percent to S$1.81 after the company increased the size of its convertible bond sale to S$250 million ($197 million) from S$200 million.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.1 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 3 percent by the S&P 500 and 0.8 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Shares in the Asian benchmark were valued at 13.9 times estimated earnings on average as of the last close, compared with 13.4 times for the S&P 500 and 11.1 times for the Stoxx 600.
--With assistance from Rishaad Salamat in Hong Kong and Norie Kuboyama and Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo. Editors: Nick Gentle, John McCluskey.
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