Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks declined, pushing a regional index to a seven-week low. Toyota Motor Corp. led a drop by exporters after a U.S. inflation report added to concern that higher borrowing costs will slow demand for their products.
Indexes around the region declined, except in Pakistan and the Philippines. Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. dropped after Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer chipmaker, forecast fourth-quarter sales that may miss analysts' estimates.
Singapore's Straits Times Index tumbled 2.9 percent, its steepest drop since May 2004 and Asia's biggest slide. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 1.7 percent to 13,129.49 and the Hang Seng Index fell 1.5 percent in Hong Kong. South Korea's Kospi index lost 2.8 percent.
The Standard & Poor's Index lost 1 percent yesterday in the U.S. after the Labor Department said prices paid to factories, farmers and other producers jumped 1.9 percent. Economists had expected a gain of 1.2 percent in a Bloomberg News survey.
Today is the 18th anniversary of Black Monday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 23 percent, its steepest slide, to 1738.74. It closed at 10,285.26 yesterday.
Toyota, the world's most valuable automaker, dropped 1.7 percent to 5,210 yen. The company had 60 percent of its sales outside Japan last year. Toyota said yesterday after the market closed that it would spend 15.5 billion yen ($134 million) to fix defects on 1.27 million vehicles.
LG.Philips LCD Co., the world's largest maker of liquid- crystal displays, slid 2.2 percent to 38,500 won. Li & Fung Ltd., which buys Asian-made clothing for U.S. customers including Abercrombie & Fitch Co., tumbled 3.6 percent to HK$16.10. It generated about 70 percent of its sales from the U.S. last year.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index has retreated 5.6 percent this month after remarks from Fed officials including Chairman Alan Greenspan indicated that interest rates will continue rising.
Fed Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson, also speaking yesterday, said policy makers will continue raising interest rates even as higher energy costs slow the economy.
Fed policy makers will next meet on Nov. 1 and will probably raise rates for the 12th straight time since June 2004 to 4 percent, according to 62 of 67 economists in a Bloomberg survey.
Samsung Electronics, the world's second-largest chipmaker, fell 2.7 percent to 550,000 won. Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's largest supplier of made-to-order computer chips for customers including Intel, dropped 1.9 percent to NT$49.55.
Advantest Corp., the world's biggest maker of memory-chip testing equipment, lost 3.2 percent to 8,570 yen. Stats Chippac Ltd., the world's third-largest provider of testing and packaging services for computer chips, fell 6.3 percent to 90 Singapore cents.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China's biggest made-to-order chipmaker, lost 1.6 percent to HK$1.21. The company will cut its average selling price by 5 percent to 10 percent in the fourth quarter, the Commercial Times said, without saying where it got the information.
The Philippine Stock Exchange Composite Index added 0.4 percent, halting a five-day, 0.9 percent drop. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the nation's biggest company by market value, climbed after the Supreme Court yesterday affirmed a tax law, boosting confidence the government can cut debt.
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