Asian Stocks Fall as U.S. Home Prices Slump; Toyota Declines

Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell for a fourth day, as a collapse in U.S. house prices and a slump in confidence among Japanese manufacturers stoked concern recessions in the world’s largest economies are deepening.

“Most of the developed world is in recession and that’s destroying a lot of demand,” said Sean Fenton, who manages about $324 million at Tribeca Investment Partners in Sydney. “The economic outlook is still pretty cloudy.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.2 percent to 86.46 at 9:50 a.m. in Tokyo with seven stocks declining for each that rose. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average retreated 2 percent, resuming trade after a holiday yesterday. South Korea’s Kospi Index lost 1.8 percent.