No respite for Asia

GLOBAL MARKETS/ STOCK REPORT

Asian stocks fell for a fifth day, as crude oil's retreat from a record sent oil companies lower and Japanese steelmakers dropped after the country's capital spending slumped for a third straight quarter.

Santos, Australia's No. 3 oil and gas explorer, led energy shares lower. Nippon Steel Corp., the world's second- biggest steelmaker, dropped in Tokyo on concern the government will have to lower Japan's economic growth estimate.

"The market is fresh out of any catalysts to spur buying,'' Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc., said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 per cent to 141.82 as of 10:26 am in Tokyo, extending a four-day, 4.9 per cent decline. The benchmark has declined 10 per cent this year on concern widening credit-market losses and a US slowdown will weigh on global economic growth.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.2 per cent, after earlier gaining as much as 0.4 per cent. Benchmarks advanced in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan.

Europe
European stocks climbed for the first time in six days as investors speculated an agreement to bail out US bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc. will be completed, easing concern that financial firms will have more writedowns.

Europe's Stoxx 600 added 0.8 per cent to 312.82 as of 10.54 am in London, as 16 of 18 industry groups advanced, and futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index increased 0.1 per cent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.7 per cent.

Concern the collapse of U.S. subprime mortgages and a slowdown in the world's largest economy will curb profit growth helped push the price-earnings ratio on the Stoxx 600 down to 11.6 yesterday, near the lowest since at least January 2002, Bloomberg data show. The Stoxx 600 has dropped 14 percent this year, led by banks, retailers and carmakers.

US
US stocks fell, led by financial and commodity shares, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke urged banks to forgive more late loans and oil, gold and copper prices dropped from records.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 4.59, or 0.3 per cent, to 1,326.75 after earlier falling 1.8 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 45.1, or 0.4 per cent, to 12,213.8, paring a decline of 226 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 1.68, or 0.1 per cent, to 2,260.28.

The S&P 500 briefly dropped below its lowest closing level in 18 months after Bernanke warned in a speech in Florida that the housing slump may deepen.

European shares fell for a fifth day and Asia's benchmark index slid for a fourth, its longest losing streak of the year.