Lend Lease Group led regional declines, falling 4.4 percent, after Australia’s biggest listed property developer reported a 16 percent drop in first-half profit. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) sank 1.2 percent as raw-material producers posted the largest fall among the 10 industry groups on the regional index. Yamaha Motor Co. lost 3.1 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co. rated the motorcycle maker as underweight.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.4 percent to 137.57 as of 9:15 a.m. in Tokyo, before markets open in China and Hong Kong. The Shanghai Composite Index yesterday posted its biggest retreat in five months amid speculation a weaker property market and falling currency will curb earnings. The Conference Board’s U.S. consumer confidence measure fell more than analysts predicted in February, a report yesterday showed.

“Global share markets are struggling to hold onto their recent buoyant momentum as heightened valuations and concerns about the Chinese economy lowered recently optimistic expectations about global earnings,” Matthew Sherwood, who helps manage about $25 billion as the Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Perpetual Ltd., said in an e-mail. “However, the mood is hardly bearish. Stock indexes are probably now at the levels where investors will want to see some evidence of earnings delivery outside the U.S. before pushing indices higher.”

Regional Gauges

Japan’s Topix index slid 0.7 percent today with trading volume more than 25 percent below its 30-day average. South Korea’s Kospi index declined 0.2 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.1 percent and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index retreated 0.2 percent.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 6.1 percent from this year’s low on Feb. 4 through yesterday, leaving the gauge trading at 13 times the estimated earnings of its constituent companies, compared with 15.7 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 14.7 for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Of the 393 companies on the Asia-Pacific measure that have reported quarterly earnings since the start of the year and for which Bloomberg compiles estimates, 53 percent topped profit forecasts.

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., the world’s third-biggest bourse operator, will today post its biggest quarterly profit growth in almost six years after new listings in the city surged, according to analyst projections.

Yuan Weakens

The yuan, managed by China’s central bank as a way of protecting exporters and limiting volatility in Asia’s largest economy, weakened beyond its reference rate for the first time since September 2012 yesterday amid speculation policy makers want to ward off speculators before loosening control over the currency.

Futures on the Hang Seng Index dropped 0.3 percent in the most recent trading session, as did contracts on the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong, which decreased a sixth day yesterday. The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index of the most-traded Chinese shares in New York slipped 1.5 percent.

Futures on the S&P 500 were little changed today. The U.S. equities gauge slid 0.1 percent yesterday after data showed slower growth in home prices and a drop in consumer confidence. The index briefly surpassed its record closing high and then erased gains in the afternoon.

Investors are taking advantage of near record U.S. stock prices to book gains. About $1.7 billion was taken out of U.S. equity exchange-traded funds on Feb. 24, bringing total withdrawals to almost $6 billion in February, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sarah McDonald at smcdonald23@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-26/asia-stocks-fall-as-global-growth-concerns-curb-monthly-advance.html

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