Asian stocks declined for a sixth day, the longest losing streak since September, as Japanese machinery orders unexpectedly dropped. Treasuries gained and the yen strengthened to a six-week high against the euro and the dollar.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index collapsed 227.04 points, or 2.4%, to 9,420.75, to run its losing streak to six sessions.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index tumbled 141.20 points, or 0.8% to 17,721.07.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest publicly traded bank, sank 3.4% after lending in the nation slowed. PetroChina Co., China’s largest oil producer, sank 2.3% in Hong Kong as oil prices headed for the longest losing streak since December.
Honda Motor Co., which gets 45% of its sales in North America, slumped 5.5% in Tokyo on concern a gain in the yen will hurt the value of overseas revenue.
Aeon Co., the country’s number-two retailer, slumped 3.6% after reporting its fourth net loss in five quarters.
Hong Kong’s market was brought lower by China Construction Bank Corp., which dropped 0.9% amid speculation the Chinese government will curb lending to limit increases in house prices.
Disappointing economic data, including worse-than-expected U.S. unemployment figures on July 2, has fanned investor concern that stock gains had outpaced prospects for an economic recovery.
Japan’s government said today that machinery orders declined 3% in May. Economists had estimated a 2% increase.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-largest bank, sank 1.8%.
Loans, excluding those by credit associations, rose 2.5% last month from a year earlier, compared with 3.3% growth in May, the Bank of Japan said today.
Shares of financial companies also fell as the cost of protecting Asia-Pacific corporate and sovereign bonds from default jumped, according to traders of credit-default swaps. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest bank, slipped 0.9% in Hong Kong.
China Construction Bank, the nation’s second biggest, sank 0.9%. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s number-one lender, dropped 0.8%. Rapid credit growth poses a risk to the nation’s lenders and a concentration of loans to some industries may damage the financial system, a China Banking Regulatory Commission official said in a speech posted on the agency’s Website yesterday.
Inpex Corp., Japan’s largest oil explorer, fell 1.4%. Crude futures in New York lost as much as 1.7% today, set for a sixth day of declines.
Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s largest publicly traded producer of the metal, sank 1.9% as copper futures on the London Metal Exchange fell as much as 0.6% today, the fifth day of declines. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, lost 0.3%.
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, lost 3.3%.
Tokyo Electron retreated 5.2% after being cut to "underperform" from "neutral" at Credit Suisse Group AG. The brokerage cut its stance on Japan’s semiconductor production equipment industry to "market weight" from "overweight," citing a weaker outlook for capital spending.
Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co., a chip-equipment maker that was also cut to "underperform" by Credit Suisse, tumbled 8.7%. Separately, research group Gartner predicted technology spending will drop 6% this year, worse than the 3.8% decrease it predicted in March.
While the global recession shows signs of easing, Gartner said in an e-mail that "IT budgets are still being cut and consumers will need a lot more persuading before they can feel confident enough to loosen their pursestrings."
Elsewhere:
China’s Shanghai Composite Index resumed its climb, gaining 11.78 points, or 0.4%, to 3,352.27
Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 12.49 points, or 0.6%, to 2,259.97
South Korea’s Kospi index fell back 3.18 points, or 0.2%, to 1,431.02
Taiwan’s Taiex moved lower 47.08 points, or 0.7%, to 6,668.14
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index tacked on 4.36 points, or 0.2%, to 2,750.60
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained one point, or 0.03%, to 3,767.90
