Star-Bulletin news services
Japan’s stocks slide
on recovery worries
Japanese stocks fell, led by Advantest Corp. and NEC Electronics Corp., after industrial production in the world's second-largest economy slowed in October more than economists had forecast.
In South Korea, exporters such as Hyundai Motor Co. gained as local and overseas consumer demand drove factory output higher. A government report showed that production topped some expectations.
The Topix index shed 0.3 percent to 1003.24 at the 11 a.m. break in Tokyo, and is headed for its first monthly decline in eight. South Korea's Kospi, which climbed 1.7 percent to 794.61, is poised for its second monthly advance.
Japan's industrial production report suggests that the "recovery isn't going to be as robust as some had anticipated, tempering some optimism for stocks," said Kanji Sakae, who helps oversee the equivalent $60 billion in assets at Nissay Asset Management Corp. in Tokyo.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia Pacific Index shed 0.2 percent, paring this week's gain to 1.8 percent. For the month it is headed toward a 2.5 percent slide. Elsewhere in the region, stock indexes fell today in Australia and New Zealand an advanced in Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Advantest, the world's biggest maker of memory-chip testing equipment, shed 1.3 percent to 7,900 yen. NEC Electronics, the world's No. 6 chipmaker, declined 2.2 percent to 7,600.
Japanese industrial production increased 0.8 percent in October from September, seasonally adjusted, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in Tokyo. Economists expected a 1.7 percent gain, according to the median of 44 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Production increased 3.8 percent in September.
The rate of unemployment in Asia's biggest economy unexpectedly rose to 5.2 percent in October and household spending fell, suggesting that an export-led recovery isn't creating jobs or spurring consumer demand.
In South Korea, Hyundai Motor, the nation's largest automaker, climbed 1.1 percent to 45,100 won. Samsung Electronics Co., the country's largest exporter, added 2.2 percent to 465,500 won.
South Korean production rose a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent from the previous month, the National Statistical Office said in a statement in Seoul. That's more than the median 0.9 percent gain forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of nine economists.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.2 percent. Qantas Airways Ltd. shed 2.4 percent.
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