Asian stocks fluctuated as concern the global recession is hurting corporate profits countered gains by financial companies. KDDI Corp., Japan’s second-biggest mobile-phone operator, sank 4.7 percent after forecasting its slowest profit growth in four years. Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest maker of memory chips, fell 4.6 percent as the company said it’s too early to predict a rebound in consumer demand even after first- quarter earnings beat estimates. Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-largest publicly traded bank, gained 7.3 percent in Tokyo after registering to sell $5.1 billion of bonds. “Investors are assessing evidence to determine whether a bright future is waiting for them,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management Co., which oversees about $96 billion. “A solid capital position allows banks to take more risk, expand their operations and boost earnings.” The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.3 percent to 89.36 as of 1:40 p.m. in Tokyo, taking its decline this week to 0.3 percent. The gauge has gained 27 percent from a more than five-year low on March 9 as governments and central banks stepped up efforts to ease the global recession. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 1.4 percent to 8,719.39. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.4 percent. The Kospi Index dropped 0.7 percent in South Korea, where the government said today the country’s economy expanded 0.1 percent in the first quarter. Other markets in Asia rose except Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. surged 17 percent in Hong Kong after the Wall Street Journal said Coca-Cola Co. may buy a stake. Rohm Co., a semiconductor maker, climbed 7.2 percent in Osaka after posted an unexpected profit. Singapore’s Keppel Land Ltd. slumped 5.9 percent on a $475 million rights offering. ‘Under Pressure’ Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.7 percent. The gauge rose 1 percent as better-than-estimated earnings at companies from Marriott International Inc. to ConocoPhillips and EBay Inc. overshadowed falling home sales and higher jobless claims that exceeded analysts’ estimates. The threat of a global slowdown and signs of declining corporate earnings have dragged the MSCI World Index down by 42 percent in the past year, erasing more than $23 trillion of market value. The global economic crisis is “far from over,” International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss- Kahn said yesterday. Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven will meet today in Washington under pressure to ensure stimulus policies are maintained until expansion is assured. Bond Sale KDDI slumped 4.7 percent to 442,000 yen. Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, will probably climb 6 percent in the year ending March 31, the company said yesterday. That’s the slowest growth since the year ended March 2006. Samsung Electronics dropped 4.6 percent to 598,000 won. The company said profit in the first-quarter declined 72 percent as a glut drove down chip prices amid the global recession. Profit beat the median analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Governments from the U.S. to Japan have stepped up measures to alleviate the credit crisis including pledges to buy debt from banks. Finance companies are the worst performers of the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s 10 industry groups in the past year as credit-related losses around the world swelled to $1.3 trillion since the start of 2007. Mizuho surged 7.3 percent to 206 yen after registering to sell as much as 500 billion yen ($5.1 billion) of subordinated bonds, according to a filing to Japan’s finance ministry today. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest publicly traded bank, climbed 5.9 percent to 506 yen. Slumping Sales China Huiyuan surged 17 percent to HK$5.94 in Hong Kong. Coca-Cola is exploring options, including buying a minority stake in China Huiyuan, that will satisfy Chinese regulators, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. China last month blocked Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest soft-drinks maker, from taking over China Huiyuan for $2.3 billion. Keppel Land, partly owned by the world’s No. 1 oil-rig maker, dropped 5.9 percent to S$1.77 in Singapore. The company said it will sell 653.5 million new shares at S$1.09 apiece to existing shareholders, who are entitled to buy nine new shares for every 10 currently owned. Hitachi High-Technologies Corp., the trading arm of Japan’s biggest non-automotive manufacturer, slipped 7 percent to 1,351 yen after forecasting a net loss for the year started April 1.

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