US economy fears sees biggest slump in week

Nikkei:9,578.31 (-100.40) Hang Seng:22,041.77 (-130.18) Shanghai Comp:2,758.23 (+12.02)

ASIAN STOCKS fell by the most in a week ahead of the release of data that may show the US economy is faltering and on concern Greece won’t pass budget cuts to meet bailout conditions, hurting the outlook for exporters.

Toyota, the world’s No. 1 carmaker by sales, dropped 2.3 per cent. Samsung, South Korea’s biggest exporter of consumer electronics, declined 2 per cent in Seoul after Apple sued the company.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.6 per cent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.4 per cent.

Toyota dropped 2.3 per cent to 3,210 yen in Tokyo. Sony, the maker of the PlayStation gaming consoles, slipped 2.1 per cent to 2,033 yen. Nintendo, the maker of Wii gaming consoles that gets 45 per cent of its sales from the Americas, lost 1.2 per cent to 14,520 yen.

Samsung, the world’s second-biggest maker of mobile phones by sales, dropped 2 per cent to 835,000 won in Seoul. Apple sued the South Korean company charging patent infringement, escalating the legal dispute between the rivals over designs and technologies used in mobile devices. – (Bloomberg)