Asian stocks fall; worst quarter since Lehman

Hong Kong: Asian stocks fell on Wednesday and ended the second quarter with their worst performance since the collapse of Lehman Brothers as investors got out of shares and high-yielding currencies on concerns over bank funding in Europe.

Asian stocks have slipped nearly 10 percent in the past three months and are on course for their worst quarterly performance since last three months of 2008, when investors fled to safety after the Lehman collapse and Asian shares dropped 23 percent. European shares are set to open mixed, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain's FTSE 100 to open 0.1 percent down, Germany's DAX to open 0.2 percent up, and France's CAC-40 to open almost flat. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei average fell 2 percent to a seven-month low after breaking below a support level. South Korea's bechmark KOSPI fell 0.6 percent, driven by falls in exporters and banks such as Hynix Semiconductor Inc and Shinhan Financial Group Co. "Given that the market has risen pretty sharply since late May, I am not overly alarmed by the size of falls we are seeing today," said Choi Seong-lak, a market analyst at SK Securities. KOSPI has gained 8 percent in the past month after hitting a six-month low on May 25. Fears of a potential liquidity shortfall of more than 100 billion euros in the financial system as European banks repay 442 billion euros ($546 billion) in emergency loans sparked the latest sell-off in equity markets, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index tumbling more than 3 percent to an eight-month low. Risk reduction was fuelled by a report that showed a slump in U.S. consumer confidence. Chinese stocks fell 1.2 percent, extending a 4 percent slide on Tuesday to a new 14-month low, as tight market liquidity forced investors to sell shares to make room for a major initial public offering by Agricultural Bank of China. Bureau Report