Asian Stocks Plunge, Set for Worst Week Since 1987; Banks, Neptune Slump

Asian stocks tumbled, driving Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average down as much 11 percent, and U.S. futures fell on concern the deepening credit crisis will push the global economy into recession.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. fell 9.6 percent after Japanese bank lending growth slowed. Neptune Orient Lines Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest container shipping company, plunged 11 percent after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. slashed its target price. BHP Billiton Ltd. lost 7.2 percent after crude oil declined to the lowest level in a year.
``It's a financial panic,'' said Choi Min Jai, who oversees the equivalent of $2.1 billion at KTB Asset Management Co. in Seoul. ``The recession can only get worse. You can't find the link that will break the vicious cycle.''
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 4.9 percent to 87.86 as of 10:33 a.m. in Tokyo. The measure is poised to drop 16 percent this week, the biggest slump since the index was created on Dec. 31, 1987. Only four stocks gained in the 990 member gauge. S&P 500 index futures lost 2 percent.
All Asian benchmark indexes dropped. Japan's Nikkei plunged 9.8 percent to 8,264.65. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index tumbled 5.7 percent. Today's slump left the Nikkei valued at 9.9 times earnings and the S&P/ASX 200 at 11 times profit, the lowest for both indexes since at least April 2000, when Bloomberg started keeping track of the data.
Indonesia's stock exchange is set to resume trading today after a two-day halt. Taiwan is shut for a holiday.
MSCI's Asian index is down 42 percent this year as mounting mortgage-related losses at financial firms caused credit to dry up, toppling banks including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and slowing global demand for Asia's exports.
U.S. stocks tumbled yesterday, wiping out almost $900 billion in market value, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing below 9,000 for the first time since 2003. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 7.6 percent to 909.92, capping a seven-day decline, the longest losing streak since 1996.

Share trade halted in 66 Sichuan firms after quake

SHANGHAI: China's two main stock exchanges will suspend share trade in 66 companies from southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality on Tuesday following Monday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake in the region, the official Shanghai Securities News said on Tuesday. It said 45 shares would be suspended on the Shanghai stock exchange and 21 on the Shenzhen exchange. Most brokerage sales and transactions systems in Sichuan Province's capital Chengdu are functioning normally, the paper said. The death toll from Monday's earthquake, which struck about half an hour before the market closed and was felt in Beijing and Shanghai, has risen to nearly 10,000 in Sichuan Province alone. Several highrise buildings in Shanghai's financial district were evacuated following the earthquake, although the Shanghai stock exchange said the market was functioning normally. "There was shock, but no danger," the Shanghai Securities News said of the impact in Shanghai.

Japanese Stocks Rebound After Three-Day Slump, Led by Insurance Companies

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's stocks advanced for the first time in four days after recent declines spurred investors to buy into the market.

Aioi Insurance Co. and Nipponkoa Insurance Co. Japan's fourth- and fifth-largest casualty insurers, leapt after Deutsche Bank AG said the shares had become cheap. Financial-services provider Orix Corp. and consumer lender Takefuji Corp. jumped after saying they will buy back shares.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 172.05, or 1.5 percent, to 11,959.56 at the 11 a.m. break. The broader Topix index rose 11.02, or 1 percent, to 1,160.67, as 27 of its 33 industry groups advanced.

``Japanese stocks have become cheap, and they won't stay that way forever,'' said Kiyoshi Ishigane, who helps oversee $61 billion in assets at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. ``Shareholders have become increasingly impatient as stocks plunged. Companies have to show some effort to bolster their share prices.''

The Topix's relative strength index, a moving average based on gains and losses, dropped to 29.7 yesterday. A reading below 30 signals to some investors shares are poised to rise. The Topix lost 22 percent this year to yesterday's close.

Aioi surged 8.3 percent to 550 yen, while Nipponkoa climbed 5.5 percent to 766 yen. T&D Holdings Inc., Japan's second-largest publicly traded insurer, climbed 8.8 percent to 5,440 yen. The Topix Insurance Index advanced 6.3 percent, the biggest gain among all industry groups on the Topix.

`Relatively Attractive'

Tatsuo Majima, a Tokyo-based analyst at Deutsche Bank, boosted Aioi to ``buy'' from ``hold'' and Nipponkoa to ``hold'' from ``sell,'' saying recent declines in the stocks have made them cheap.

``The insurers' earnings will recover this fiscal year,'' Majima said today by phone. ``As manufacturers' profits are expected to drop because of the stronger yen against the dollar, insurers are relatively attractive investments.''

Orix climbed 3.7 percent to 12,380 yen, while Takefuji, the nation's third-largest consumer lender by market value, rose 3.7 percent to 2,125 yen. Orix and Takefuji said they would buy back shares, which have fallen 35 percent and 22 percent respectively this year.

Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's largest carrier, added 3.6 percent to 257 yen. Credit Suisse Group boosted its rating on the stock to ``neutral'' from ``underperform'' on prospects for the airline's international business class service and fuel savings from the use of smaller aircraft.

Nikkei futures expiring in June advanced 1.2 percent to 11,890 in Osaka and gained 0.6 percent to 11,875 in Singapore.