Asian Stocks Fall for Third Day; Carmakers, BHP Billiton Drop

By Chua Kong Ho

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell for a third day, led by carmakers and commodity producers, on concern a U.S. plan to bail out banks won't be agreed soon enough to limit damage to the global economy.

Honda Motor Corp. dropped 3.8 percent after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the credit crisis has started to impair household and business spending in the U.S. and Japan's exports slowed more than estimated. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, slumped 3.3 percent after oil and copper dropped. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost 2.2 percent in Tokyo after lending rates between banks jumped.

``The U.S. bailout plan is moving slowly and markets will be in a limbo until there's better clarity,'' said Daphne Roth, Singapore-based head of equity research in Asia at ABN Amro Private Bank, with about $30 billion of Asian assets. ``Money markets are again frozen and everyone is rushing for safety. No one has the confidence to lend.''

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 1.5 percent to 114.52 as of 10:11 a.m. in Tokyo. All 10 industry groups retreated, with about four stocks falling for each one that advanced.

The gauge has declined 27 percent this year as a U.S. housing recession sparked a credit crisis, left global financial companies with more than $520 billion in writedowns and losses, and threatened to send the global economy into a recession.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 2.2 percent, the most in a week. South Korea's Kospi Index fell 1.6 percent after Hanjin Shipping Co. declined as rates for carrying commodities slumped to a seven-month low.

`Grave Threats'

The S&P 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent yesterday as Bernanke said the U.S. is facing ``grave threats'' to financial stability and fended off congressional criticism of the $700 billion rescue proposal. S&P futures were little changed today.

Notes climbed after U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the system is ``frozen to a large extent.'' The yield on the 10-year note fell 3 basis points to 3.79 percent as of 9:46 a.m. in Tokyo, according to BGCantor Market Data.

Honda, Japan's second-largest automaker, dropped 3.8 percent to 3,280 yen. Toyota Motor Corp., the largest Japanese automaker, slid 2.7 percent to 4,680 yen.

Japanese export growth slowed in August, led by car shipments as the worsening financial crisis cut demand. Exports grew 0.3 percent from a year earlier after rising 8 percent the previous month, the Finance Ministry said. The median estimate by economists in a Bloomberg News survey of economists was for a 2.3 percent increase.

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