Asian Stocks Fall for Third Day After Lehman Posts Record Loss

By Kyung Bok Cho

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks declined for a third day after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. reported a record loss, reviving concern financial companies will add to writedowns.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. both slid more than 2 percent after Lehman reported a bigger third-quarter loss than analysts forecast. Fanuc Ltd., a Japanese robot maker, retreated 1.4 percent after the nation's machine orders fell for a second month in July.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.4 percent to 117.29 as of 9:09 a.m. in Tokyo, extending a two-day, 3 percent drop. Financial stocks were the biggest contributor to the measure's decline.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.8 percent to 12,248.61. Stocks declined in Australia and were little changed in South Korea.

U.S. stocks rose yesterday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index advancing 0.6 percent to 1,232.04, as investors bought energy shares trading at their cheapest level in 18 months.

To contact the reporter for this story: Kyung Bok Cho in Seoul at kcho7@bloomberg.net