Japanese Stock Futures Decline After Lehman Posts Record Loss

By Masaki Kondo

Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's stock futures fell after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. reported a record loss, stoking concern falling asset values will batter global financial firms.

U.S.-traded receipts of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan's third-biggest listed bank, dropped 3.1 percent from the closing share price in Tokyo. Those of larger rival Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. declined 2 percent.

``Investors expected positive news from Lehman, which, as it turns out, didn't deliver anything good,'' Mitsushige Akino, who oversees about $468 million at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. in Tokyo, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Nikkei 225 Stock Average futures expiring in September closed at 12,270 in Chicago, lower than 12,330 earlier in Osaka and 12,325 in Singapore. The Bank of New York Japan ADR Index, which tracks American depositary receipts of Japanese companies, gained 2.4 percent, the most since Aug. 8.

Yesterday, the Topix index edged up 0.1 percent to 1,192.38 in Tokyo. The Nikkei fell 0.4 percent to 12,346.63.

Lehman, the fourth-biggest U.S. brokerage, yesterday reported a $3.9 billion third-quarter loss, the biggest in its 158-year history, and 77 percent wider than analysts had estimated. Writedowns and credit losses caused by the collapse in the U.S. mortgage market reached $511 billion worldwide, according to statistics compiled by Bloomberg News.

At 8:50 a.m., the Cabinet Office is scheduled to report machinery orders in July. Orders, an indicator of capital spending in the next three to six months, probably dropped 3.6 percent from a month earlier, economist estimates show.

To contact the reporter for this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net.