Asian Stocks Fall for a Second Day; Nissan, BHP Billiton Drop

By Chen Shiyin and Chua Kong Ho

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell for a second day, led by automakers and raw-material producers, after Nissan Motor Co. posted a 43 percent drop in profit and metal prices declined.

Nissan, the Japan's third-largest automaker, fell the most in four months and Toyota Motor Corp., the largest, fell to the lowest in almost three years. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, dropped after a gauge of metals fell the most in more than a week. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. led shipbuilders lower in Seoul after it canceled an order as the client failed to make payments.

``We expect corporate earnings to stay weak for the rest of 2008 in Asia,'' said Diane Lin, Sydney-based portfolio manager at Pengana Capital, which oversees about $1.9 billion. Exporters that are ``exposed to the overseas markets, such as Japanese and Korean automakers, will see a challenging second half.''

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index lost 1.2 percent to 129.07 as of 10:54 a.m. in Tokyo, adding to its 1.3 percent decline on Aug. 1. More than two stocks retreated for each that gained.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 1.3 percent to 12,927.47, poised for its lowest close since July 18. South Korea's Kospi index fell 2.4 percent, Asia's biggest retreat.

Yamaha Corp. posted the biggest drop on the MSCI Asian index after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its rating on the Japanese musical-instrument maker. Lend Lease Corp. fell in Sydney after the developer reported lower profit.

U.S. Stocks Drop

U.S. stocks fell on Aug. 1, adding to two months of losses for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, after the Labor Department said the jobless rate climbed to 5.7 percent in July. General Motors Corp., the No. 1 U.S. carmaker, declined the most since June after posting the third-biggest quarterly loss in its 100- year history on plunging domestic sales.

GM's $15.5 billion loss was four times more than analysts estimated after the value of truck leases declined. It coincided with a report showing that U.S. auto sales tumbled 13 percent in July, pushing the industry to its lowest annualized selling rate since April 1992.

Nissan lost 5 percent to 787 yen, set for the lowest close since March 13. Toyota dropped 2.2 percent to 4,510 yen, on course for its lowest close since September 2005.

Nissan's net income dropped to 52.8 billion yen ($491 million) for the three months ended June as it wrote down the value of leased vehicles, the automaker said on Aug. 1. UBS AG, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Credit Suisse Securities (Japan) Ltd. cut their share-price forecasts.

Metal Prices

Metal prices fell on Aug. 1, partly on speculation that demand for the auto industry will drop. Platinum declined the most in four months in New York, while copper fell the most in three weeks.

BHP dropped 2.1 percent to $38.30. Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-largest mining company, slipped 1.7 percent to A$118.55. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Japan's biggest nickel producer, dropped 5 percent to 1,324 yen.

Daewoo Shipbuilding, the world's third-largest shipbuilder, plunged 11 percent to 36,550 won, set for the largest decline since Jan. 30. It canceled an order valued at 619 billion won ($609 million) for eight container vessels from an unidentified buyer, the company said on Aug. 1.

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., a unit of the world's largest shipbuilder, lost 6.6 percent to 184,500 won. The company also scrapped a 197 billion won contract after an unidentified European customer failed to make an initial payment. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., its parent, lost 8.8 percent to 280,500 won.

Yamaha Slumps

Yamaha slumped 13 percent to 1,800 yen after Goldman Sachs cut its rating for the company to ``sell'' from ``neutral,'' citing the outlook for earnings. Yamaha cut its profit forecast for the year ending March 2009 on Aug. 1, sending the shares 7.4 percent lower.

Lend Lease, the Sydney-based developer building London's 2012 Olympic Village, dropped 11 percent to A$8.94 after saying net income declined 47 percent as it wrote down U.K. assets for the third-straight year and global property values fell. The shares were on course for their largest loss since December 2000.

To contact the reporter for this story: Chen Shiyin in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net; Chua Kong Ho in Shanghai at kchua6@bloomberg.net