Asian Stocks Slump as Dollar Tumbles, Subprime Losses Widen

Asian stocks fell the most in 12 weeks, extending a global rout after the dollar plunged yesterday, oil slumped and U.S. financial companies disclosed mounting credit-market losses.

Toyota Motor Corp., which got 37 percent of its sales from North America in the last financial year, led exporters lower on concern a weaker dollar will erode its U.S. income. Westpac Banking Corp. paced a drop among lenders after Morgan Stanley and American International Group Inc. reported mortgage-related losses. PetroChina Co. and BHP Billiton Ltd. declined after crude oil slid from a record and copper fell.

``We'll start to see the U.S. slow,'' said Taku Yamamoto, who helps oversee $107 billion at the Pension Fund Association in Tokyo. ``People have been betting on emerging markets as a way of insulating their investments from the U.S. fallout, but don't forget that these markets are dependent on the U.S.''

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index slumped 2.8 percent to 162.66 as of 6:48 p.m. in Tokyo, the most since Aug. 17. Shares declined in all markets open for trading.
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