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.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index, which tracks more than 1,000 stocks, lost 1.5 percent to 106.75 as of 5:55 p.m. in Tokyo, set for its lowest since Sept. 1. All 10 industry groups fell. The benchmark is poised for a six-day, 4 percent drop, the longest losing streak in five months.
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.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.7 percent to 13,129.49 and the Hang Seng Index fell 1.5 percent in Hong Kong. South Korea's Kospi index dropped 2.8 percent, Asia's biggest slide, while Singapore's Straits Times Index tumbled 2.7 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 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.
Santa Clara, California-based Intel said sales this quarter may be as low as $10.2 billion. That's less than the average analyst estimate of $10.7 billion. Third-quarter net income rose 4.7 percent to $2 billion from a year earlier, the slowest pace this year.
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.
The court's tax ruling yesterday will help President Gloria Arroyo narrow the deficit for a fourth year in 2005. The nation will balance its budget by the end of 2008, two years ahead of Arroyo's plan, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said today.
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