Asia Stocks Fall on U.S. Payrolls

Asian stocks fell to a seven-week low, led by mining companies and automakers, after unexpected job losses in the U.S. last month heightened concern the world's largest economy is in recession.

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's largest automaker, retreated after the yen climbed to an eight-year high on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will further cut interest rates. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, declined on concern metals demand will fall. Malaysia's stock benchmark tumbled the most since September 1998 after the ruling coalition lost a two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The global economy is deteriorating more rapidly, said Kiyoshi Ishigane, who helps oversee $61 billion in assets at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. That should continue to be a drag on the market.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slumped 1.2 percent to 137.95 at 10:16 a.m. Tokyo, set to close at its lowest since Jan. 23. Materials and industrial stocks led declines among the index's 10 industry groups.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average retreated 1.4 percent to 12,599.78. All regional markets open for trading dropped. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 1.9 percent, while South Korea's Kospi index fell 1.7 percent.

In the U.S., the Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 0.8 percent, a government report showed that February payrolls fell the most in five years. Economists had estimated jobs to rise. Signs the U.S. is in a recession, along with a further deterioration in credit markets, spurred traders to bet the Fed will cut its benchmark rate as low as 1.75 percent by June.

Dollar, Yen

The dollar weakened to 101.43 against the yen on March 7, the lowest since January 2000, and was recently at 102.25. A decline in the dollar erodes the value of Japanese companies' dollar-denominated sales.

Toyota, which counts North America as its biggest market, fell 1.7 percent to 5,240 yen. Every 1 yen gain in the Japanese currency against the dollar trims 35 billion yen ($342 million) from Toyota's annual operating profit, according to the company.

Sony Corp., which derived 24 percent of consumer- electronics sales from the U.S., lost 4.6 percent to 4,400 yen.

BHP dropped 3.2 percent to A$37.64, set for its weakest closing price since Feb. 13. Rio Tinto Group, the world's third- largest mining company, declined 3.1 percent to A$127.15. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Japan's biggest gold producer plummeted 8.1 percent to 2,045 yen.

Gold futures in New York fell for a third day from a record in after-hours trading, while copper declined as much as 0.7 percent. Platinum prices last week completed the biggest weekly decline in eight years.

Reduced Majority

Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index tumbled 7.2 percent, the most since Sept. 8, 1998, after the ruling coalition government lost the two-thirds majority it has held in parliament for 34 years.

While the National Front coalition kept control of Southeast Asia's third-largest economy after the March 8 election, its reduced majority and loss of power in five of 12 states may see government-sponsored infrastructure projects face increased scrutiny, said Mushtaq Ibrahim, who manages about $1.4 billion at Amanah SSCM Asset Management Bhd.

Asian Stocks Drop to 3-Month Low This Week on Growth Concerns

Asian stocks fell to the lowest in more than three months, led by Toyota Motor Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co., on concern the effects of a U.S. housing slump will spread and slow growth globally.

Nintendo Co. dropped 5.4 percent this week after U.S. hiring slowed in December and unemployment increased to a two- year high. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. had its worst week in more than three years after the New York Times reported Merrill Lynch & Co. may take a bigger-than-expected $15 billion writedown for mortgage-related losses.

The view is strengthening that a U.S. recession is on the cards, said Jason Teh, who helps manage the equivalent of about $5.3 billion at Investors Mutual in Sydney. When things slow there it spills out to the rest of the world.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 2.8 percent this week to 151.70, the biggest drop since the period ended Dec. 14 and the lowest close since Sept. 18. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 4 percent to 14,110.79, the lowest since November 2005. Roughly twice as many of the benchmarks around the region declined as gained.

Toyota, Japan's largest automaker, fell 2.6 percent to 5,630 yen, and was the biggest drag on the regional benchmark. Samsung, South Korea's largest exporter, retreated 4.3 percent to 516,000 won.

U.S. hiring slowed last month, capping the worst year for job creation since 2003, and unemployment increased to 5 percent, the Labor Department said. Separately, Japan's car sales dropped in 2007 to the lowest in 35 years as wages fell and the population shrank.

Merrill Writedown?

Japan's economy has a 50 percent chance of slipping into a recession, Tetsufumi Yamakawa, Goldman's chief economist in Tokyo, wrote in a note yesterday. The U.S. economy may already be in recession, which will last two to three quarters and be relatively mild by historical standards, Goldman chief U.S. economist Jan Hatzius said in a separate note on Jan. 9.

Nintendo, the world's biggest maker of handheld game players, lost 5.4 percent to 60,200 yen in Osaka. Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's biggest custom-chip maker, dropped 8.3 percent to NT$55, its worst weekly performance since the period ended April 30, 2004.

A $15 billion writedown by Merrill, the third-largest U.S. securities firm, would be twice its own projection and more than the $12 billion analysts had estimated, according to a New York Times report yesterday. The world's biggest banks and securities firms have posted $97 billion in losses and writedowns on subprime-related assets, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Any subprime losses would drive the markets, said Nicole Sze, a Singapore-based investment analyst at Bank Julius Baer & Co. which manages $350 billion in assets worldwide. More writedowns could have a negative impact on the region.

China Financials Gain

ICICI Bank Ltd., India's biggest by market value, jumped 12 percent in the week to 1,439.9 rupees. The company may list four of its units or sell stakes to investors privately, said Chanda Kochhar, joint managing director at ICICI.

Citic Securities Co., Asia's largest brokerage by market value, rose 7 percent to 94.73 yuan in China. Last year's profit probably rose more than 400 percent, boosted by surging revenue from stock trading, the company said on Jan. 7.

China Merchants Bank Co., the nation's sixth-largest lender, added 2.6 percent to HK$31.90 in Hong Kong. Net income probably more than doubled last year, the company said.

Earnings from major Chinese financial companies have beaten market expectations by as much as 10 percent, said Fan Dizhao, who helps manage about $1.8 billion at Guotai Asset Management in Shanghai. That has provided a short-term boost.

Asian Stocks Fall Most in 3 Weeks on Growth Concern

Asian stocks declined, sending a regional benchmark to its biggest loss in three weeks, after the Federal Reserve said U.S. economic growth is slowing and Morgan Stanley said Japan may enter a recession.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. led banks lower on speculation that a quarter-point interest-rate cut by the Fed yesterday won't be enough to halt credit-market losses. Samsung Electronics Co. and BHP Billiton Ltd. retreated on concern demand for electronics and raw materials will slump in Asia's largest export market.

Market sentiment has been shaken, said Yang Haeman, who manages the equivalent of almost $1 billion at NH-CA Asset Management in Seoul. A U.S. slowdown is already quite certain and investors now are also worried that this will result in a global slowdown.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.5 percent to 162.81 as of 11:17 a.m. in Tokyo, set for its largest drop since Nov. 21. Almost seven stocks fell for each that gained among the benchmark's 1,140 members.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.8 percent to 15,749.87 after climbing yesterday to the highest since Nov. 7. Canon Inc. also slipped after the yen strengthened against the dollar, reducing the value of exporters' overseas sales. Benchmarks declined in all markets open for trading.

U.S. stocks tumbled the most in a month yesterday, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average lower by more than 2 percent.

Increased Uncertainty

Mitsubishi UFJ, which had more than $2 billion in subprime- related investments at the end of September, lost 1.8 percent to 1,206 yen. Japan's biggest publicly traded bank also declined after the Asahi newspaper reported it has been asked to invest in a U.S. bailout fund for financial institutions with subprime loan exposure.

Recent developments, including the deterioration in financial market conditions, have increased the uncertainty surrounding the outlook for economic growth and inflation, the Federal Open Market Committee said after yesterday's meeting, when the benchmark interest rate was cut to 4.25 percent.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan's second-biggest publicly traded bank, dropped 2.8 percent to 617,000 yen. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation's second-biggest lender, slipped 1.1 percent to A$60.11

Samsung, South Korea's largest exporter, slid 1.5 percent to 594,000 won. Westfield Group, the owner of 59 shopping malls in the U.S., dropped 1.7 percent to A$21.57 and James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., lost 2.1 percent to A$6.47.

Slowdown in U.S., Japan

The U.S. economy will expand at an annual pace of 1 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 4.9 percent in the previous three months, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

Incoming information suggests that economic growth is slowing, reflecting the intensification of the housing correction and some softening in business and consumer spending, the FOMC said in its statement.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley's chief Japan economist Takehiro Sato slashed his 2008 growth estimate to 0.9 percent from 1.9 percent a month ago, saying the Japanese economy is headed for a mild recession that could worsen should a bigger-than- expected U.S. slowdown damp demand for exports.

Canon, the world's largest maker of digital cameras, slid 2.9 percent to 5,660 yen. Honda Motor Co., Japan's second-biggest automaker, fell 2.8 percent to 3,780 yen.

Yen, Commodities

The yen strengthened to as high as 110.63 versus the dollar from 111.81 at the close of trading in Tokyo yesterday. A stronger yen decreases the value of exporters' dollar-denominated sales when converted into local currency.

Elsewhere, shares of BHP, the world's largest mining company and Australia's biggest oil producer, fell 2 percent to A$43.30. Rio Tinto Group, the world's No. 3 mining company, dropped 2.3 percent to A$143.10.

Crude oil declined as much as 0.8 percent to $89.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was recently at $89.52. Copper slid as much as 1.9 percent in New York.

We turned bearish on commodities, said Leslie Phang, who helps manage $1 billion at Commonwealth Private Bank in Singapore. Demand from China won't be enough to offset a slowdown in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

Source - Bloomberg

China Inflation Reaches 11-Year High, Trade Gap Grows

China's inflation accelerated at the quickest pace in 11 years and the trade surplus swelled, adding pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates and let the currency appreciate faster to cool the economy.

Consumer prices rose 6.9 percent in November from a year earlier after climbing 6.5 percent in October, the statistics bureau said today. That was more than the 6.5 percent median estimate of 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Surging food and fuel costs and a record $238 billion surplus in the first 11 months have prompted the government to name inflation and overheating as the biggest threats to growth. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is in Beijing to press for yuan gains that would narrow the trade gap and staunch the flow of money into the world's fastest-growing major economy.

Liquidity from the trade surplus will continue to cause the economy to overheat in 2008, said Glenn Maguire, chief Asia economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong. The yuan will need to appreciate at a firmer pace, interest rates will rise and the reserve requirement for banks will go to 17 percent by the end of next year.

The yuan gained by the most in a month against the dollar. The currency, which has climbed 12 percent since a fixed exchange rate was scrapped in July 2005, rose 0.22 percent to 7.3792 per dollar as of 4:46 p.m. in Shanghai from 7.3952 late yesterday. It touched 7.3770, the highest since the end of the dollar link.

The People's Bank of China last week ordered lenders to set aside 14.5 percent of deposits as reserves, up from 13.5 percent. China's one-year lending rate is at a nine-year high of 7.29 percent after five increases this year.

U.S. Gap

The yield on the 4.68 percent bond due September 2022 rose 4 basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 4.72 percent.

The trade surplus climbed 14.7 percent to $26.3 billion in November from a year earlier, the third-biggest monthly total, the customs bureau said today. The $15.2 billion trade surplus with the U.S. pushed the 11-month total with that country to $149.2 billion.

The central bank will strictly control bank lending, raise interest rates this month and allow a faster pace of currency appreciation in 2008, said Liang Hong, a senior economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Hong Kong.

Export Growth

People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said today that currency policy will be used to help narrow the trade gap.

A stronger Chinese currency would lower import costs and push up export prices. Export growth has slowed from 29 percent in the seven months through July to between 22 percent and 23 percent for each of the past four months, after cuts to tax incentives.

A more flexible currency is especially important now, when the risks of inflation are clearly rising in the Chinese economy, Paulson said last week. The Treasury Secretary, in Beijing for the so-called Strategic Economic Dialogue, is fending off calls in Congress for legislation to punish China for its currency policy.

The inflation rate is almost double the 3.5 percent pace in the U.S. in October. It's also more than the 3.01 percent increase in wholesale prices in India, the key inflation measure for the world's second-fastest growing economy, in the week ended Nov. 24.

China's inflation was 4.6 percent in the first 11 months, more than the central bank's 3 percent target for the year and the key one-year deposit rate of 3.87 percent.

Food makes up a third of the consumer price index and rising costs pose a threat to social stability, illustrated by a stampede last month at a cooking-oil sale that killed three people in the central city of Chongqing.

Overall, food climbed 18.2 percent. Non-food prices rose 1.4 percent, accelerating from a 1.1 percent gain in the previous month. Utility prices including water, electricity and gas rose 5.6 percent.

The inflow of cash from record exports, besides stoking inflation, has also fueled a surge in property and stock prices, with the benchmark CSI 300 Index gaining 152 percent this year. The central bank today ordered banks to tighten rules for real estate loans after property prices in 70 cities jumped 9.5 percent in October, the fastest pace in two years.

China's economy, the world's fourth largest, expanded 11.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.

There's a chance the central bank will raise interest rates again before the end of this year, said Wang Tao, head of economics and strategy for Greater China at Bank of America Corp. in Beijing. The government is also likely to accelerate appreciation of the currency.

Source - Bloomberg

Asian Stocks Gain

Asian stocks rose, helping a regional index to its best weekly gain in two months, after copper prices climbed to a one-week high and Credit Suisse Group raised its recommendation on some Japanese steelmakers.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, climbed to a three-week high. JFE Holdings Inc., the world's third-largest steelmaker, jumped the most in two months.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.6 percent to 161.64 as of 10:02 a.m. in Tokyo, set for its highest close since Nov. 15. A measure of mining companies and steelmakers jumped 1.5 percent, the biggest advance among 10 industry groups.

The benchmark has gained 4.4 percent this week, the most since the five days ended Sept. 28. Gains helped trim the MSCI index's November loss to 6.1 percent, its worst monthly performance since May 2006.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.7 percent to 15,623.06. Benchmarks climbed in other markets open for trading, Except New Zealand. The Philippines is closed for a holiday today.

Most U.S. stocks dropped yesterday, halting a two-day rally, after Sears Holdings Corp. reported lower profit and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said banks' losses on home-equity loans may double in 2008. More than three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said volatility in credit markets has affected the economy's prospects and policy makers must decide whether the risks between growth and inflation have shifted. He spoke a day after remarks by Vice Chairman Donald Kohn fueled speculation the central bank will lower interest rates for a third straight meeting on Dec. 11.

Source - Bloomberg

Asian Stocks Drop for First Time in Three Days

Asian stocks fell for the first time in three days, led by Samsung Electronics Co., after South Korea's President agreed to an independent probe of corruption allegations involving the country's biggest company.

HSBC Holdings Plc dropped from a one-week high in Hong Kong after Goldman, Sachs & Co. said Europe's biggest bank may have to write down $12 billion more for bad debts. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan's biggest publicly traded lender, reversed earlier losses after Citigroup Inc. said it will raise $7.5 billion by selling a stake to an Abu Dhabi government fund.

There's not much hopeful talk in the market, said Eom Giyo, who helps manage the equivalent of $3.2 billion at Woori Credit Suisse Asset Management Co. in Seoul. Writedowns are increasing at financial institutions, and now we hear allegations of bad accounting at Samsung Group.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.9 percent to 157.02 as of 1:29 p.m. in Tokyo, trimming an earlier decline of as much as 2.1 percent. The benchmark rose 3 percent in the previous two sessions.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 0.6 percent to 15,044.96, after earlier sliding as much as 2.2 percent. Sony Corp. jumped after sales of its PlayStation 3 video-game console more than tripled last week as price cuts drew customers after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Benchmarks declined in other markets open for trading, except for New Zealand.

U.S. stocks fell yesterday, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to its biggest drop in more than two weeks. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest U.S. mortgage-finance companies, tumbled after UBS AG said higher credit costs will cause earnings growth to slow.

Source - Bloomberg

China stocks plummet

Worries that Beijing will try to rein in economy send Shanghai index lower 4.4%; Tokyo's Nikkei edges higher.

Most Asian markets fell Thursday, with shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai sliding sharply on concerns that Beijing will take steps to cool China's economy.

The region's biggest bourse in Tokyo ended mixed amid persistent worries over the outlook for the U.S. economy, a vital export market for Asia, after Wall Street dropped again overnight.

There still is a lot of uncertainties in the U.S. economic outlook, as well as on China's macro policies, that could dampen buying interest in the near term, said Peter Lai, a director at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index sank 613.27 points, or 2.3 percent, to 26,004.92 after earlier rising as much as 1.4 percent. Leading decliners were port operator China Merchants Holdings and rival Cosco Pacific.

Some investors held back because of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday Thursday.

They were were also discouraged by economic data in the U.S. released Wednesday that showed a drop in consumer sentiment, with the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators falling 0.5 percent in October. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.62 percent Wednesday to 12,799.94.

Asian markets have been battered in recent weeks.

Since reaching record highs in October, benchmark indices in both Hong Kong and Shanghai - two of the world's best-performing markets this year - have fallen 17 percent. In Japan, the Topix index of all the issues of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's First Section, has declined nearly 21 percent from its 2007 high in February.

Some analysts see a buying opportunity.

There are not enough factors to justify a further drop in Japan shares, said Yasushi Hoshi, strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.

On the Chinese mainland, the Shanghai Composite Index plunged 4.4 percent to 4,984.16 on expectations of further economy-cooling measures. Premier Wen Jiabao suggested earlier this week that China needs to do more to prevent a bubble in stock and property prices.

Concerns over PetroChina's valuation following its Nov. 5 trading debut, when it tripled from its initial public offering price, also dampened buying sentiment. PetroChina lost 4.6 percent Thursday.

Still, traders said the Shanghai index was unlikely to fall much further given the ample liquidity available for share dealings.

What the market lacks isn't cash but confidence, said Simon Wang, an analyst at Xiangcai Securities.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei stock index rose 0.34 percent to 14,888.77 in a pre-holiday session as the dollar rebounded against the yen from a 2 1/2-year low hit overnight.

But concern over the exposure of insurance companies to the problems in the U.S. mortgage market dragged down the broader Topix index, which dipped 0.09 percent to 1,437.38 points.

Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga and Bank of Japan board member Seiji Nakamura both expressed concern about how problems in the U.S. economy might affect Japan. Traders said the market is especially sensitive to the health of consumer spending ahead of Christmas in the U.S.

Japanese trading houses Mitsui & Co. and Sumitomo Corp. were among the gainers.

Katokichi Co. jumped 17 percent to 694 yen after Japan Tobacco Inc. and instant noodle maker Nissin Food Products Co. said Thursday they will jointly buy the frozen food producer in a deal exceeding ¥100 billion (nearly $1 billion) to create Japan's biggest frozen food maker.

In currency dealings, the U.S. dollar was trading at ¥109.00 midafternoon, up from ¥108.68 late Wednesday in New York. It dropped as low as ¥108.25 in the New York session. The euro rose to $1.4860 from $1.4848.

Financial markets in Japan will be closed Friday for the Labor Thanksgiving Day holiday. The markets will reopen on Nov. 26.

Elsewhere, Thailand's benchmark stock index rose 0.2 percent to 808.8, shaking off sour sentiment that dragged it to a 10-week low of 796.9.

Indonesia's main index rose 0.2 percent to 2,569.5 in thin volume.

Malaysian shares fell on concerns over the health of the U.S. economy and high oil prices. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell 1.2 percent to 1,344.2.

Philippine shares continued to fall, weighed down by the heavy losses on Wall Street. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 0.9 percent to end at 3,478.9, its third day of decline.

South Korean shares fell for a sixth straight session, dropping below the psychologically important level of 1,800 despite gains in the telecommunications sector and exporters such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, shed 0.4 percent to finish at 1,799.0.

Australian investors remained nervous over global fallout from the problems with risky housing loans in the U.S. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 0.8 percent to close at 6,334.3, after hitting its lowest level in two months at 6,312.6.

Taiwan shares rose on bargain-hunting. The Weighted Price Index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange rose 0.2 percent to 8,499.4, rebounding from Wednesday's three-month low.

New Zealand stocks fell after sharp drops in the U.S. and U.K. overnight. The NZX-50 index lost 0.4 percent to close at 4,054.2 point.

Source - CNN Money

Asian Stocks Fall, Led by Exporters, Financials on U.S. Outlook

Asian stocks fell for a second day, led by Toyota Motor Corp. and Canon Inc., after the yen strengthened against the dollar and Wells Fargo & Co. said the U.S. housing market is the worst since the Great Depression.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and National Australia Bank Ltd. dropped on concern banks may report widening losses linked to U.S. home loans to borrowers with poor credit.

You just don't see an end to the subprime housing-loan problem, said Soichiro Monji, who helps oversee $47 billion at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. in Tokyo. Unless we see some light at the end of the tunnel, we can't expect the market to rise.

BHP Billiton Ltd. climbed after its mines in Chile resumed production following an earthquake and the Wall Street Journal said Rio Tinto Group was considering a counter bid for the company.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia Pacific Index fell 1.6 percent to 158.74 as of 11:04 a.m. in Tokyo. All 10 industry groups on the measure dropped, with a group of financial stocks as the biggest contributor to the decline.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 1.6 percent to 15,150.68, while the broader Topix index slumped 2 percent. Benchmarks in other markets open for trading fell, except in New Zealand.

In the U.S, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.9 percent to 13,110.05. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 1 percent.

Exporters Decline

Toyota Motor, which gets about 70 percent of its profit from operations in North America, fell 1.8 percent to 6,110 yen. Canon, the world's biggest seller of digital cameras, declined 1.8 percent to 5,470 yen. Other stocks tumbled on concern the U.S. housing recession will crimp demand from Asia's biggest export market.

The yen strengthened to 110.49 to the dollar at 10:21 a.m. in Tokyo from 111.26 at the close of the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday. A stronger Japanese currency decreases the value of companies' overseas earnings when translated into yen.

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's largest exporter, retreated 1.1 percent to 564,000 won. James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., dropped 2.4 percent to A$6.22 in Sydney.

Mizuho Financial, the second-biggest publicly traded Japanese bank, declined 3.9 percent to 525,000 yen. Moody's Investors Service cut its financial strength outlook for the company to negative from stable because of losses related to U.S. subprime mortgages.

National Australia Bank, the country's largest lender, fell 3.3 percent to A$42.53. Kookmin Bank, South Korea's biggest, slid 2 percent to 69,600 won.

BHP, the world's largest mining company, gained 1.4 percent to A$41.73. Production at its mines in Chile, including Escondida, the world's largest copper source, have resumed production following a magnitude 7.7 quake earthquake on Nov. 14.

Its shares also rose after the Wall Street Journal said Rio Tinto, which is fighting a hostile takeover from BHP, is considering a counter-bid. Rio slipped A$0.02 to A$134.57.

Both companies declined to comment on the report.

Source - Bloomberg