Asian stocks fell for the fourth day this week, led by Hong Kong property developers and China- related shares on speculation that policy makers will take new measures to curb inflation. Sino Land Co. slumped 3.9 percent in Hong Kong as a person familiar with the situation said the city may announce new measures today to cool the property market. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s largest bank by market value, dropped 3.2 percent on speculation China will raise interest rates as soon as today. Samsung Electronics Co. led computer-related shares higher after Dell Inc.’s profit exceeded analyst estimates. “Property curbs in Hong Kong certainly are hurting the developers today,” said Andrew Sullivan, director of institutional sales trading at OSK Securities Hong Kong Ltd. “I doubt the government can really do very much.” The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.2 percent to 131.45 as of 2:33 p.m. in Tokyo, heading to a second straight weekly drop amid concern over how China will tackle the fastest inflation in two years. The gauge rose earlier today on signs a U.S. economic recovery is accelerating and on speculation a bailout for Ireland will prevent the nation’s banking crisis from spreading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped 1.5 percent, the biggest decline among benchmark equity indexes in the Asia- Pacific region, and China’s Shanghai Composite Index sank 1.3 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.2 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.1 percent and South Korea’s Kospi Index increased 0.5 percent. New Measures Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent. The index gained 1.5 percent yesterday in New York as speculation grew that Ireland will accept a bailout to rescue indebted banks and reports on U.S. manufacturing and jobless claims bolstered optimism about the world’s biggest economy. Hong Kong’s government plans new measures to cool the property market that will be related to the stamp duty imposed on home sales, and will make an announcement today, a person familiar with the situation said. The International Monetary Fund said in a report yesterday that Hong Kong’s accelerating asset inflation risks causing a bust that leads to deflation and an extended economic “downturn.” The government should consider raising stamp duties on housing and taxes on higher-end properties if asset inflation persists, the fund said. China Inflation China may raise interest rates for a second time this year as soon as today, the China Securities Journal reported on Nov. 17, citing an unidentified analyst. Earlier announcements also indicate that rate decisions are often released on Fridays or around the 20th of the month, the newspaper said. Inflation in China may reach 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter, the China Securities Journal reported today, citing estimates by the State Information Center, a research agency under the National Development and Reform Commission. Annual inflation may exceed the government’s 3 percent target for this year, the newspaper said. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 9.3 percent this year through yesterday, compared 7.3 percent for the S&P 500 and 6.8 percent for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 14.5 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 14.1 times for the S&P 500 and 12.2 times for the Stoxx 600. Dell, the world’s third-largest supplier of personal computers, reported quarterly profit that exceeded analysts’ predictions as declining component prices resulted in fatter margins. Profit excluding certain items was 45 cents a share in the fiscal third quarter, topping the 32-cent average of estimates in a Bloomberg survey. To contact the reporter for this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nicolas Johnson at nicojohnson@bloomberg.net.

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