By Rafael Nam
HONG KONG, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell on Friday
after the Federal Reserve chairman said risks to U.S. economic
growth had picked up, while global credit concerns resurfaced
after a steep ratings downgrade of a U.S. bond insurer.
Shares in exporters and financials dropped, derailing a
rally in Asian markets the previous day that saw Japanese
stocks post their biggest daily gain in six years on optimism
about the global economy.
The dollar stayed weak on the growing concerns about the
outlook for the world's largest economy, a worry for exporters
as stronger Asian currencies hit returns earned overseas.
Safe-haven assets such as bonds and gold edged higher,
while platinum retreated from an historic high hit on Thursday.
Oil prices fell after gaining more than 2 percent on Thursday.
"Although both the U.S. and Japan had surprisingly good
indicators this week, if you look at the actual contents they
weren't really that good," said Yutaka Miura, a senior
technical analyst at Shinko Securities.
"Add in Bernanke, the ratings cut and UBS, and it's clear
that the subprime worries are still there."
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the outlook for the
U.S. economy had worsened in recent months and said risks to
growth had increased. []
The financial sector was among the decliners after Moody's
Investors Service on Thursday cut its top "AAA" rating on a
unit of FGIC Corp by six notches, raising fears about sell-offs
in the debt guaranteed by the U.S. bond insurer.
[]
Bond insurers face billions of dollars in payouts after
they guaranteed repackaged subprime mortgages and other risky
debt.
Swiss bank UBS <UBSN.VX> shocked markets on Thursday with
tens of billions of dollars of new exposure to risky U.S.
mortgages, leveraged finance and complex securities.
[]
The MSCI measure of stocks outside Asia <.MIAPJ0000PUS>
fell 1.1 percent as of 0150 GMT, having already dropped 10
percent so far in a year characterised by a widening global
credit crisis and a potential sharp slowdown in the United
States, Asia's biggest export market.
The falls have been larger than the 6.7 percent drop seen
in the Dow Jones industrial average <> this year. The MSCI
Asia index had risen by double digits in each of the previous
five years.
"I think investors are tempted to buy after recent sharp
drops in stock markets made valuations very attractive, but
they are struggling to find the right time to return," said Kim
Joong-hyun, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.
Japan's Nikkei benchmark index <> fell 1.5 percent,
Australian shares <> lost 1.4 percent, and stocks in South
Korea <>, Taiwan <>, and Singapore <.FTSTI> were off
less than 1 percent.
Shares in Singapore's DBS <DBSM.SI> dropped more than 1
percent, but later recovered, after Southeast Asia's biggest
bank posted an 18 percent fall in quarterly profit amid further
writedowns linked to the global credit turmoil.
WEAKER DOLLAR
The dollar slipped to around 107.8 yen in early Tokyo
trade, retreating from Thursday's one-month high, after
Bernanke said the Fed would act as needed to help the
struggling U.S. economy. His remarks were widely interpreted as
leaving the door open to more U.S. interest rate cuts.
As risk aversion returned in Asia, spot gold prices <XAU=>
firmed to above $909 an ounce, while Japanese government bond
futures edged higher, with the March 10-year JGB futures
<2JGBv1> up 0.17 point to 137.62.
Platinum <XPT=> slipped to $1,955/$2,002 as investors
locked in profits after the metal soared above $2,000 an ounce
on Thursday. U.S. crude oil <CLc1> eased around a third of a
dollar to $95.15 a barrel.
