El Asia a la baja.
Asian Stocks Fall on Europe Debt Concern; Canon, Toyota Slump
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By Kana Nishizawa and Norie Kuboyama
May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks slumped on concern the Greek deficit crisis will spread through Europe and hurt the global economic recovery after Moody’s Investors Service placed its Portugal rating on review for a possible downgrade.
Canon Inc., a Japanese camera maker that counts Europe as its biggest market, dropped 3.4 percent in Tokyo. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest automaker, fell 2.6 percent as the yen strengthened against the euro. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, retreated 1.3 percent in Sydney as commodity prices declined. Korea Zinc Co., the world’s second-biggest zinc refiner, sank 6 percent in Seoul.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.6 percent to 120.76 as of 9:31 a.m. in Tokyo, the lowest level since March 5. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average slumped 3.2 percent after a three-day holiday in which mounting debt concerns in Europe and China’s actions to slow growth erased about $1.5 trillion from world equity markets.
“People are holding off on investing to see how far the impact of the Greece issues spreads,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees the equivalent of $450 million in assets in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 1.5 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi Index fell 2.2 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. The gauge declined 0.7 percent and the MSCI World Index erased its 2010 gain yesterday, as European Central Bank council member Axel Weber warned that Greece’s fiscal crisis may have “grave contagion effects” in the euro area.