Asian stocks fall as Greece fears spur flight to safer assets

A man walks near an electronic board showing the Hong Kong share index outside a local bank in Hong Kong

Asian stocks tumbled as investors sought shelter in haven assets while they weighed a possible Greek exit from the euro zone. Shares in Shanghai sank even after the central bank cut interest rates.
Japan’s Topix index dropped 2.5 percent as the yen jumped 0.8 percent against the dollar and 1.6 percent versus the euro. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 2.1 percent to 144.77 as of 4:01 p.m. in Hong Kong, as more than 16 shares fell for each that rose. The Shanghai Composite Index slumped 3.3 percent, having swung from losses as great as 7.6 percent and a 2.5 percent gain.
“The key thing is that this is untested and people are selling on that uncertainty,” Chad Padowitz, Melbourne-
based chief investment officer at Wingate Asset Management Ltd., said by phone. “Markets have been accustomed to the can being kicked down the road indefinitely and this may be that the buck stops here. It’s a very fluid situation and it’s never really been tested in this way before.”
Losses across Asia were broad-based yesterday, with all 10 industry groups on the regional measure retreating. Financial and technology shares led declines. Tencent Holdings Ltd., Toyota Motor Corp. and Commonwealth Bank of Australia were among the biggest drags on the gauge.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 2.2 percent. Slater & Gordon Ltd. tumbled a record 25 percent after the world’s first publicly-listed law firm said it identified an historical error in its U.K. reporting.
The Hang Seng Index slid 2.6 percent, its biggest loss since February 2014. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index fell 0.9 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index retreated 1.4 percent, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index lost 1.3 percent and India’s S&P BSE Sensex Index dropped 1.4 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex Index declined 2.4 percent. Adam Haigh, Bloomberg