Asian Stocks Fall Before France Sells Bills

Asian stocks fell ahead of a debt sale today by France after Standard & Poor’s stripped its top rating and cut eight other European nations, stoking concern the region’s debt crisis may worsen.

By Susan Taylor

Sony Corp. (6758), Japan’s No. 1 exporter of consumer electronics that gets 21 percent of its revenue in Europe, lost 2 percent. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Australia’s third- largest lender by market value, slid 1.7 percent. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest miner, fell 1.1 percent in Sydney.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.9 percent to 115.85 as of 9:21 a.m. in Tokyo. The measure added 2.2 percent last week.

“It’s unrealistic to expect Europe to make progress in dealing with debt issues in a straight line without having hiccups,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1 billion at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. in Sydney. S&P’s ratings downgrades are “not going to help investor sentiment.”