Asian stocks fall after S&P slashes Japan's debt rating, US earnings disappoint | Australian Herald

Asian stocks fall after S&P slashes Japan's debt rating, US earnings disappoint

Star Tribune Friday 28th January, 2011

BANGKOK - Asian stock markets were lower Friday after a credit-rating downgrade was slapped on Japan and U.S. companies that are bellwethers for consumer spending reported disappointing earnings.Oil hovered above $85 a barrel after a batch of disappointing economic news. In currencies, the dollar fell against the yen and but gained ground against the euro.Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average lost 1 percent to 10,367.34. Investors dumped shares in banks — which own large amounts of government bonds — a day after Standard & Poor's lowered Japan's long-term sovereign debt rating one notch to AA- due to its ballooning public debt.Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's biggest bank, fell 2.2 percent. Mizuho Financial Group, Japan's No. 2 banking group, declined 1.8 percent...

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