Stocks dip as company results weigh on indices

Nikkei: 10,010.39 (+4.49) Hang Seng: 21,987.29 (–16.40) Shanghai Comp: 2,765.89 (–28

Nikkei: 10,010.39 (+4.49) Hang Seng: 21,987.29 (–16.40) Shanghai Comp: 2,765.89 (–28.31)ASIAN STOCKS fell yesterday, on concerns factory output in China may have contracted this month, and as companies from Hynix Semiconductor to Hyundai Heavy Industries posted lower earnings.

BYD, which gets 85 per cent of its revenue from China, dropped 3.1 per cent to HK$23.35 in Hong Kong after a report showed the country’s output may have contracted.

Soho China, the biggest developer of land in Beijing’s central business district, fell 2.6 per cent to HK$7.07 as the country’s banking regulator said it would step up supervision of local-government lending.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, slumped 5.1 per cent in Seoul.

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Agricultural Bank of China, the nation’s third-biggest lender by market value, fell 2 per cent to HK$4.03.

Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average was flat at 10,010.39. Mitsuba sank 8 per cent to ¥733 and Calsonic Kansei fell 2.4 per cent to ¥496.

Nippon Paper dipped 2.2 per cent to ¥1,780 and Oji Paper lost 2 per cent to ¥393. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011/ Bloomberg)