Asian Stocks Fall on Renewed Recession Concern; Qantas Slumps

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell for the first time in three days as reduced earnings forecasts in Japan and share sales in Australia fueled concerns that the global recession is deepening.

Casio Computer Co., the maker of G-Shock watches, slumped 6 percent after cutting its earnings forecasts. Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia’s largest airline, and developer Lend Lease Corp. slumped more than 16 percent in Sydney after selling stock at discounts to bolster their balance sheets.

“The global recession continues to weigh on investor sentiment,” Mitsushige Akino, who oversees $615 million at Tokyo-based Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.3 percent to 82.92 as of 10:35 a.m. in Tokyo, with two stocks declining for each one that fell. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 1.2 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.3 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.7 as Cisco Systems Inc., the largest maker of networking equipment, forecast sales that missed analyst estimates. The gauge dropped 0.8 percent yesterday after disappointing earnings at Kraft Foods Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

Casio dropped 6 percent to 648 yen. Net income is projected to fall 88 percent to 1.5 billion yen ($17 million) in the year ending March 31, less than the company’s earlier forecast of 13.5 billion yen.

A decline in demand and anticipated “greater setbacks” in the global economy led the company to cut its outlook, Tokyo- based Casio said yesterday after the market closed.

“There has been a massive downward revision to earnings estimates, and that’s a very difficult headwind for the market to have to face,” said Mark Freeman, a portfolio manager at Westwood Management Corp., which oversees $7.5 billion in Dallas.

Qantas plunged 17 to A$1.89 in Sydney. It sold A$500 million ($321 million) new shares at a 19 percent discount.

Lend Lease, the developer involved in building London’s Olympic Village, tumbled 17 percent after raising A$302.5 million selling shares at an 11 percent discount.