Asian Stocks Drop as S&P Puts Euro Nations on Downgrade Watch By Kana Nishizawa and Norie Kuboyama - Dec 5, 2011

Asian stocks fell, with a benchmark gauge headed for its first loss in seven days, after Standard & Poor’s said it may cut credit ratings on Germany, France and 13 other members of the euro amid the worsening debt crisis.

STX Pan Ocean Co., a South Korean shipping line, dropped 4.8 percent in Seoul after saying a leak was found in its vessel. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), the world’s biggest carmaker by market value, slid 1.4 percent in Tokyo. Tosoh Corp., a maker of chemical products, slid 4.4 percent after Mizuho Securities Co. cut its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “buy.” Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM), an Australian gold producer, declined 2.7 percent after Deutsche Bank AG cut its rating to “hold” from “buy.”

“People want to move away from risk assets,” said Naoteru Teraoka, general manager at Tokyo-based Chuo Mitsui Asset Management Co., which oversees about $20 billion. “The market is unstable and has been moving up and down like a seesaw. Investors buy stocks (MXAPJ) on good news after a plunge and are selling unless the news moves in the right direction. The downgrade news is a bad story in the middle of such movements.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5 percent to 117.64 as of 10:21 a.m. in Tokyo, set to end its longest winning streak since Oct. 13. All but one of 10 industry groups on the measure declined, with more than twice as many stocks retreating as gaining.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) fell 0.7 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index retreated 0.6 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi Index fell 0.8 percent.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 14 percent this year through yesterday, compared with less than 0.1 percent drop by the S&P 500 and a 12 percent slump by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 12.9 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 12.7 times for the S&P 500 and 10.6 times for the Stoxx 600.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kana Nishizawa in Hong Kong at knishizawa5@bloomberg.net; Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at nkuboyama@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
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