ASIA PACIFIC

Stocks fell yesterday, sending the regional benchmark index lower for a second day, as earnings results from HTC missed estimates and Japanese exporters declined after the yen strengthened.

The MSCI Asia Pacific index slipped 0.6 percent to 130.69 by 7.18pm Tokyo time. The Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.9 percent, a second day of declines.

HTC, Asia’s second-largest smartphone maker, slipped 4 percent in Taipei. Samsung Electronics, the largest maker of cellphones and televisions, lost 1.3 percent in Seoul after reporting earnings. Mazda Motor, which gets about 72 percent of its sales outside of Japan, sank 5 percent in Tokyo as the yen’s advance dimmed the outlook for overseas earnings.

“We don’t expect a no-brainer, one-way climb for stocks,” said Michael Kurtz at Nomura Holdings in Hong Kong.

“Japan for its part has delivered a key step toward expectations of a major proreflation policy shift.” – Bloomberg