“Asian stocks fell for a second day, driving the regional benchmark index to its longest string of weekly losses since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., amid signs economic recovery in the U.S. is faltering.
Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), the world’s biggest automaker that gets 28 percent of sales from North America, lost 1.2 percent in Tokyo. LG Electronics Inc. (066570), a South Korean electronics maker, dropped 1.2 percent after saying there won’t be a turnaround for its mobile-phone business in the second quarter. Hang Lung Properties Ltd. (101)led Hong Kong developers lower after home sales in the city dropped for a fifth month in May.
“We could see a little bit more consolidation before equities go back up,” Michael Preiss, Singapore-based chief equities strategist at Standard Chartered Bank, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “The second half slowdown that we see is potentially becoming worse than economists had forecast.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.5 percent to 133.88 as of 7:09 p.m. in Tokyo, heading for a 0.4 percent drop this week. The five-week slump is the gauge’s longest losing streak since October 2008, after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers triggered a global stocks rout. Almost two stocks fell for each that rose on the measure, which swung between gains and losses at least eight times.”
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