Asia Stocks Fall for Fifth Day on Growth Concerns; Mizuho Drops

By Chua Kong Ho

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell for a fifth day, set for the biggest weekly decline in a year, as concern over slowing global growth triggered a plunge in finance, energy and raw-materials shares.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. tumbled 6.4 percent after Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund, warned of a ``financial tsunami'' and Goldman, Sachs & Co. told investors to sell Merrill Lynch & Co. shares. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. tumbled 7.3 percent after resources prices declined, adding to the biggest weekly sell-off for Asian commodity stocks in at least 13 years. Nissan Motor Co. fell 3.6 percent after U.S. unemployment rolls rose to the highest in almost five years.

``Sentiment is terrible,'' said Shane Oliver, Sydney-based head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors, which manages about $108 billion. ``You've got this ongoing correction in commodity prices, issues regarding financials, and concerns about profit downgrades in economically-sensitive companies.''

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 2.1 percent to 116.70 as of 3:50 p.m. in Tokyo. The measure is headed for a 6.8 percent drop this week and the lowest since June 13, 2006. All 10 of the benchmark's industry groups declined, with about seven stocks retreating for each that advanced.

The region's index has tumbled 26 percent in 2008, almost twice the drop in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, as a global slowdown cuts demand for the region's exports and financial companies post losses and writedowns stemming from the credit crisis. More than $15 trillion has been wiped off global stock markets since the October 2007 peak.

Sony, Sumco

S&P futures dropped 0.4 percent today after the S&P 500 yesterday dropped 3 percent as the number of people staying on jobless rolls rose to the highest since November 2003. The Labor Department report on nonfarm payrolls, due today at 8:30 a.m. in Washington, probably showed a drop of 75,000 last month, according to forecasts by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 2.8 percent to 12,212.23. Sony Corp. fell 4.2 percent after announcing a worldwide computer recall. Sumco Corp. tumbled 11 percent after second-quarter profit decreased.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell below 20,000 for the first time since April as Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. declined 6.1 percent following a cut to the city's growth forecast by Goldman Sachs. All markets open in Asia declined, with Hong Kong, Indonesia and China posting declines of more than 3 percent.

Nissan, Canon

Nissan, which generates more than half its profit in North America, slumped 3.6 percent to 800 yen. Toyota Motor Corp., which gets more than a third of its sales in the region, dropped 2.5 percent to 4,750 yen. Mazda Motor Corp. tumbled 6.9 percent to 527 yen, the most in a month.

Canon Inc., which gets almost 80 of its sales outside of Japan, declined 2.9 percent to 4,630 yen. Japanese exporters also fell as the yen gained against the euro to the highest in more than a year and appreciated versus the dollar to the strongest since July 17. A stronger local currency reduces Japanese companies' repatriated overseas sales.

Capital spending in Japan excluding software fell 7.6 percent in the three months ended June 30, a fifth-straight quarterly decline, data today showed. Earlier this week, reports showed Chinese manufacturing contracted for a second month in August, and Australia's economic expansion slowed to the weakest pace in more than three years as consumers cut spending.

European central bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said yesterday the economy is seeing an ``episode of weak activity.''

`More Downturns'

``At this stage of the game, we expect more bad news, more downturns, so there's no big rush into the market,'' said Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management Ltd., which oversees about $40 billion in emerging-market equities, in a Bloomberg Television interview. ``It's good to be conservative and to conserve some cash but take advantage of these opportunities'' when share prices fall.

Mizuho, Japan's second-biggest bank by assets, dropped 6.4 percent to 413,000 yen, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. slid 5.4 percent to 750 yen. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's biggest lender, fell 3.1 percent to A$41.59.

Gross, co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., yesterday said the U.S. government needs to start using more of its money to support markets to stem a burgeoning ``financial tsunami.''

William Tanona, an analyst at Goldman in New York, placed Merrill on the brokerage's ``conviction sell'' list, saying the company could post a $5.75 per share loss this quarter, versus a previous estimate for a $1 profit.

Fortescue, Jianxi

MSCI's index of 114 Asian materials stocks to a 12 percent tumble this week, headed for its biggest weekly loss since the measure started in 1995.

Fortescue dropped 7.3 percent to A$6.39, the lowest since March 20. Jiangxi Copper Co., China's second-biggest smelter, lost 4.1 percent to HK$10.34, as a measure of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange dropped 1.1 percent. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Japan's largest gold producer, fell 3.4 percent to 1,153 yen, after gold declined for a fourth-straight day.

Santos Ltd., Australia's third-biggest oil and gas producer, retreated 1 percent as oil traded at $107.77 a barrel, extending a 1.3 percent decline yesterday. Prices are down 27 percent since the record $147.27 reached July 11.

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