Asian stocks slumped, extending a global rout, on concern the seizure in credit markets will deepen a global economic slowdown.
Toyota Motor Corp. slumped 5.9 percent, yielding its spot as the world's largest automaker by value to Volkswagen AG, as the yen traded close to a three-year high versus the euro. Sharp Corp. tumbled 10 percent after cutting its profit forecast. National Australia Bank Ltd. lost 2.2 percent after Japanese and Australian central banks pumped more than $11 billion into the financial system to ease record-high money-market rates.
``I'm shocked by the speed at which the global economy has deteriorated,'' said Roger Groebli, Singapore-based head of financial market analysis at LGT Capital Management, which oversees about $20 billion. ``It's happening at a speed that I have never seen. It's a global capitulation and everyone is throwing in the towel.''
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.9 percent to 98.55 as of 11:09 a.m. in Tokyo, a fourth-straight decline. Nine of the gauge's 10 industry groups dropped. The measure tumbled 22 percent in the third quarter as the credit crisis forced Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 3.1 percent to 10,148.46, having earlier dipped below 10,000 for the first time since December 2003. Mitsubishi Corp., which generates more than half its profit from trading commodities, declined 4.7 percent after metals tumbled.
Emerging Markets
All stock markets in the region fell. South Korea's Kospi Index slid 1.3 percent and the won weakened to below 1,300 per dollar for the first time since 2002, on speculation investors will steer clear of emerging-market assets. In Thailand, police fired tear gas to disperse protestors at the parliament building, state television reported.
In the U.S. yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below 10,000 for the first time since October 2004. The Standard & Poor's Index retreated 3.9 percent, having tumbled as much as 8.3 percent. S&P 500 futures added 0.3 percent today.
``Investors couldn't imagine the global economy would fall apart as it has,'' said Nobuyuki Kashihara, who helps oversee $26 billion at Mizuho Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. ``The feedback effect between the financial world and real economy is pushing us into uncharted waters.''
Toyota dropped 3.9 percent to 3,750 yen on concern the stronger yen will lower the value of overseas sales when expressed in the local currency. The company makes almost 80 percent of its sales outside Japan.
Lower Profit
The yen strengthened against the euro on speculation the deepening credit crisis will encourage investors to sell higher- yielding assets and pay back low-cost loans in Japan. The yen rose to 137.69 per euro from 137.50 yesterday, when it touched 135.05, the strongest since September 2005. Japan's currency was at 101.75 per dollar from 101.82.
Sharp tumbled 10 percent to 903 yen, the most since March 2000, after the company said profit will probably drop 41 percent to 60 billion yen ($591 million) for the year ending March 31, less than the previous forecast of 105 billion yen.
National Australia Bank, the nation's largest by assets, declined 2.3 percent to A$24.97. Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan's second-largest bank by revenue, slid 2.7 percent to 391,000 yen.
The Bank of Japan injected 1 trillion yen and the Reserve Bank of Australia added A$1.815 billion ($1.3 billion). The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, that banks charge each other for three-month dollar stayed near a nine-month high, the British Bankers' Association said. The Japanese Libor-OIS spread, a gauge of cash scarcity among banks, rose to a record.
Metals Decline
Mitsubishi declined 4.2 percent to 1,750 yen. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, fell 1.1 percent to A$29.47. Rio Tinto Group slid 2.3 percent to A$82.55.
A measure of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange slumped 5.8 percent, the steepest decline since Aug. 16, 2007. Zinc fell 2.9 percent, copper 7.5 percent and nickel 5.6 percent.
Mitsui Mining & Smelter Co., the co-owner of Japan's biggest copper smelter, dropped 4.3 percent to 202 yen, after slashing a planned dividend and forecasting a second year of profit declines.
