Asian Telecom, Commodity Stocks Decline; Developers Advance

By Patrick Rial and Shani Raja

Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Asian telephone companies and steelmakers fell after Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.'s profit missed estimates and Japanese demand for steel dropped. Chinese developers surged after the country's inflation eased.

SingTel, Southeast Asia's largest phone company, sank the most in five months, while China Mobile Ltd. declined after Citigroup Inc. cut its price target. JFE Holdings Inc., Japan's No. 2 steelmaker, dropped in Tokyo. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., Hong Kong's largest developer, rose to the highest level in a week on speculation China's government will loosen lending curbs.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1 percent to 128.54 as of 2:09 p.m. in Tokyo, extending this year's decline to 18 percent.

Most Asian benchmark indexes retreated. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 0.8 percent to 13,323.63. The country's wholesale inflation rate accelerated to a 27-year high as companies raised prices to offset oil and commodity costs. Thailand is shut for a holiday today.

To contact the reporter for this story: Patrick Rial in Tokyo at prial@bloomberg.net; Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net.