Asian Stocks Fall on Growth Concerns; ANZ Bank, Advantest Slump

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks dropped, extending a global decline, after the head of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said the Australian economy is “still fragile” and new-home sales unexpectedly fell in the U.S.

ANZ Bank, Australia’s second-biggest provider of business loans, dropped 2 percent in Sydney as it reported lower-than- estimated earnings. Advantest Corp., the world’s No. 1 maker of memory-chip testers, sank 4.5 percent after posting a wider loss on slumping orders. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, slid 3 percent after commodity prices declined.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 0.8 percent to 115.43 as of 10:27 a.m. in Tokyo, extending a 2.9 percent decline in the past two days. The gauge has climbed 63 percent from a more than five-year low on March 9 amid signs the global economy is recovering from its worst slowdown since World War II. The MSCI World Index lost 0.2 percent, after slumping 2 percent yesterday.

“Cracks have been showing up,” said Nader Naeimi, a Sydney-based strategist at AMP Capital Markets, which holds $75 billion in assets. “Investors are worried about whether the improvements we’ve seen are self-sustaining or just the result of stimulus which is fading.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank 1.5 percent to 9,923.92. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 1.9 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index dipped 1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index declined 1.6 percent.

New Home Sales

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.1 percent. The gauge fell 2 percent in New York yesterday, the most in a month, as the Commerce Department said sales of new homes fell 3.6 percent to a level that was lower than the most pessimistic economist’s forecast.

ANZ Bank dropped 2 percent to A$22.98. The lender said full-year net income fell 11 percent to A$2.94 billion ($2.6 billion). The bank was expected to report full-year profit of A$3.13 billion, according to the average of six analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Australia’s central bank should have waited longer before raising borrowing costs because the economy is “still fragile,” ANZ Bank Chief Executive Officer Mike Smith told reporters in Sydney today.

The Reserve Bank of Australia this month became the first central bank among Group of 20 nations to raise interest rates amid signs of strength in the country’s economy.

Advantest Loss

“It wouldn’t have been a bad idea just to let Christmas wash through and then see what needed to happen in the new year,” ANZ Bank’s Smith said.

Advantest slumped 4.5 percent to 2,110 yen. The company’s second-quarter net loss widened to 3.3 billion yen ($36 million) from 2.8 billion yen a year earlier.

Better-than-estimated earnings and economic reports have driven the global stock rally since March. Companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index are valued at 22 times estimated earnings, compared with 17 times for the S&P 500 and 15 times for Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index.

Resources companies declined after crude oil for December delivery tumbled 2.6 percent, the most in a month, to $77.46 a barrel in New York yesterday, while the London Metals Index, a measure of six metals, slumped 3.2 percent.

BHP dropped 3 percent to A$37.24. Rio Tinto Ltd., the world’s second-biggest mining company, slipped 4.4 percent to A$61.26. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil producer, dropped 2.5 percent to A$47.18. Inpex Corp., Japan’s largest oil explorer, fell 2.6 percent to 750,000 yen.

NEC Electronics

Nippon Mining Holdings Inc. sank 3.9 percent to 392 yen. Japan’s biggest copper producer and an oil refiner said in a preliminary earnings statement first-half net income was 18.8 billion yen, missing its projection by 18 percent, amid narrower margins for petroleum products.

NEC Electronics Corp. had yet to trade and was being bid for at 650 yen, compared with its close yesterday of 750 yen. Japan’s fourth-largest chipmaker widened its full-year net loss forecast, citing lower demand for semiconductors used in cars, flat-panel televisions and handsets.

The loss in the 12 months ending March 31 will probably be 55 billion yen, wider than the 9 billion yen projected earlier, the company said in a statement.