Asian Stocks Decline on Property and Developer Stocks (Bloomberg) (10-01-2008)

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks declined on Thursday as concern regarding the possible spread of U.S. credit-market losses may hurt property demand and developers.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.2 percent to 153.13 as of 3:43 p.m. in Tokyo, snapping a two-day, 1.3 percent advance. A measure of financial stocks including property developers was the biggest drag on the benchmark.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.5 percent to 14,388.11; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its economic growth estimate for the country.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.5 percent, led by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., after the Chinese government said it would freeze energy prices.

Mitsubishi Estate, Japan's biggest property developer by market value fell 5.7 percent to 2,330 yen, its lowest close since Aug. 7, 2006. Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Japan's third-largest developer, slumped 5.4 percent to 2,480 yen, a level not seen since Feb. 20, 2006.

Japanese developers also slid after the Nikkei newspaper said banks are curbing their lending to property funds in the wake of subprime defaults, cooling the market for acquisitions.

Cheung Kong, Hong Kong's second-biggest developer by market value, slipped 2.8 percent to HK$141.90, following a six-month, 31 percent jump. Shareholders are selling 33.5 million shares at HK$140.50 apiece, according to an e-mail from UBS AG, the sale's arranger. That's 3.8 percent cheaper than yesterday's close.

The financials sector in Japan largely reversed yesterday’s gains with most of the 85 listed instruments in negative territory, with Mitsubishi UFJ down by 2.2%, Nagano Bank losing 4.07%, Mizuho Financials retreating by 2.65%, while Sumitomo advanced only fractionally, by 0.26.

Elsewhere in the regions, India's Sensex closed 1% to 21,087.12, after hitting a record intraday of 21,206.77 on ICICI Bank stock.

In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.4% at 5,456.54, while Singapore's Straits Times Index slipped 0.6% to 3,325.67 in afternoon trading. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index slipped 0.2% to 6,078.70 and New Zealand's NZX 50 index fell 0.3% to 3,899.88. South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.1% to 1,824.78, unable to hold on to gains after rising as high as 1,855.07 earlier in the session, and Taiwan's Weighted Index gave up 0.3% at 8,057.27.

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