Asian Stocks Fall for First Day This Week After Oil, Gold Prices Decline

Asian stocks fell, dragging down a regional benchmark index for the first time this week, as Japanese banks dropped after Standard & Poor’s cut the nation’s credit rating, and commodity shares declined.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan’s two biggest publicly traded banks, sank more than 2 percent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, declined 1.1 percent and Newcrest Mining Ltd, Australia’s No. 1 gold producer, lost 3.6 percent in Sydney as oil and gold prices slumped. Advantest Corp. plunged 5.6 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its share-price estimate on the maker of chip-testing equipment.

Japan’s rating cut “is negative for banks that hold government bonds,” said Kenichi Hirano, general manager and strategist at Tachibana Securities Co. in Tokyo.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4 percent to 137.77 as of 10:17 a.m. Tokyo, paring this week’s gain to 1 percent. About two stocks declined for each that advanced in the gauge, which had its first weekly drop in 1 1/2 months last week amid concern faster-than-expected economic growth in China will add pressure on policy makers to accelerate efforts to tame inflation.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.9 percent and the Topix lost 1 percent, the steepest drops among benchmark equity indexes in the Asia-Pacific region. South Korea’s Kospi Index declined 0.2 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.5 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.2 percent today. The index gained 0.2 percent yesterday in New York, rising for a fifth straight day, as home sales and Qualcomm Inc.’s forecast beat projections by economists and analysts, offsetting higher-than-estimated jobless claims.

Earnings, Estimates

Of the 106 companies in the MSCI index that have reported earnings for the latest quarter, 48 have exceeded analysts’ estimates, while 45 have missed them, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. On Jan. 31, 86 of the 1,019 companies in the gauge are scheduled to release results.

Japan’s credit rating was cut yesterday for the first time in nine years by Standard & Poor’s as persistent deflation and political gridlock undermine efforts to reduce a 943 trillion yen ($11 trillion) debt burden.

Japan, the world’s most indebted nation, had its rating cut to AA-, the fourth-highest level, putting the country on a par with China, which likely passed Japan last year to become the second-largest economy. The government lacks a “coherent strategy” to address the nation’s debt, the rating company said yesterday in a statement. The outlook for the rating is stable, S&P said.

Oil, Gold

Crude oil for March delivery tumbled $1.69 to $85.64 a barrel yesterday in New York, the lowest settlement price since Nov. 30. Gold futures for April delivery fell 1.1 percent to settle at $1,319.80 an ounce in New York yesterday. In after- hours electronic trading, the price touched $1,311, the lowest since Oct. 1.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.4 percent this year to yesterday, compared with gains of 3.3 percent for the S&P 500 and 2.6 percent for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark were valued at 14.1 times estimated earnings on average at the last close, compared with 13.6 times for the S&P 500 and 11.3 times for the Stoxx 600.