Asian Stocks Fall for Second Day on Renewed Earnings Concern

By Jonathan Burgos and Masaki Kondo

April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell for a second day, led by mining and finance companies, on renewed concern the global recession will weigh on earnings.

Alumina Ltd. slumped 4 percent in Sydney after Alcoa Inc., its U.S. partner, reported a second quarterly loss. Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Japan’s second-biggest brokerage, slid 5.3 percent after writing down the value of its securities holdings. Inpex Corp., Japan’s largest oil explorer, sank 2.8 percent after crude oil futures dropped.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.2 percent to 85.68 at 10:23 a.m. in Tokyo. Yesterday’s 0.4 percent drop snapped a four-day advance that had taken valuations on the stock gauge to the highest since Nov. 30, 2007. The gauge has fallen 4.4 percent this year, adding to last year’s record 43 percent slump as the deepening recession decimated corporate earnings.

“Investors are awaiting profit forecasts companies are soon to disclose,” said Yumi Nishimura, assistant manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. in Tokyo.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 1.8 percent to 8,673.94. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 1.6 percent and South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 1.2 percent. All markets open for trading advanced, except Taiwan, which was little changed.

Komatsu Ltd., the world’s No. 2 maker of earthmoving equipment, sank 2.2 percent in Tokyo, after Bank of America Corp. said rival Caterpillar Inc. will post a wider-than-expected quarterly loss. Kobe Steel Ltd., Japan’s fourth-largest steelmaker, lost 4.2 percent after announcing its first annual loss in seven years.

Securities Loss

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.3 percent as Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, reported a second- straight quarterly loss amid lower demand for the metal used in automobiles and appliances. The S&P 500 slumped 2.4 percent yesterday.

Alumina dropped 4 percent to A$1.435. The company owns 40 percent of a venture with Alcoa that is the world’s biggest producer of alumina.

Daiwa fell 5.3 percent to 487 yen in Tokyo. The company said it will report an annual loss after it wrote down the value of its securities holdings by 17.4 billion yen ($173 million). Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s top brokerage, declined 1 percent to 575 yen.

Inpex fell 2.8 percent to 708,000 yen in Tokyo. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest miner and Australia’s largest oil producer, dropped 1.9 percent to A$32.09 in Sydney. Crude oil in New York fell 2 percent to $48.17 a barrel in after-hours trading, the fourth-straight day of declines.

Kobe Steel

Komatsu Ltd., the world’s No. 2 maker of earthmoving equipment, fell 2.2 percent to 1,180 yen in Tokyo. Caterpillar Inc., the world’s biggest construction-equipment maker, will post a loss of 23 cents a share, Andrew Obin, a Bank of America analyst, wrote in a note to clients yesterday. Obin had previously estimated a loss of about 11 cents.

Kobe Steel dipped 4.2 percent to 137 yen. The company said its annual net loss was 32 billion yen, compared with 88.9 billion yen in profit a year earlier.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., Japan’s third-largest shipping line, fell 4.1 percent to 349 yen in Tokyo. The company may have missed its full-year pretax profit forecast, Nikkei English News said, without citing anyone.

To contact the reporters for this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net.