MARKET UPDATES

Asian stocks dropped, led by automakers and technology companies, on concern surging oil prices and slowing U.S. growth will derail earnings.
Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's largest automaker, and Samsung Electronics Co., Asia's biggest maker of chips, mobile phones and flat panels, fell after U.S. unemployment rose the most in 22 years. Korean Air Lines Co. plunged the most in three months after Goldman, Sachs & Co. cut its share-price forecast and crude jumped more than $10 a barrel on June 6. India's Sensitive Index tumbled 4.3 percent, the most since March.
``We're being attacked from all fronts,'' said Jason Lee, who helps oversee the equivalent of $2.1 billion as general manager of equities at Amanah Raya-JMF Asset Management in Kuala Lumpur. ``We're heading for tough times; expect to see more earnings revisions.''
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.5 percent to 148.05 as of 2:40 p.m. in Tokyo, with about nine stocks retreating for each that climbed. All 10 industry groups and every Asian market dropped, apart from Hong Kong, China, Australia and the Philippines, which are closed today for holidays.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 2 percent to 14,204.97, after ending last week at the highest since Jan. 9.
U.S. stocks tumbled on June 6, sparking the Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst sell-off in 15 months, after the Labor Department said the jobless rate grew to 5.5 percent in May from 5 percent in April, the biggest increase since 1986. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in June climbed 0.2 percent.
Toyota, Sony
Toyota, which gets about half of its profit from North America, dropped 2.7 percent to 5,440 yen. Sony Corp., the world's second-largest maker of consumer electronics, fell 3.3 percent to 5,300 yen. Samsung lost 3 percent to 688,000 won.
A loss of jobs is one of the criteria used by the National Bureau of Economic Research to determine when recessions begin and end. The group, the official arbiter in the U.S., defines contractions as a ``significant'' decrease in activity over a sustained period of time.
MSCI's Asian index has dropped 6.1 percent this year amid signs of slowing expansion in the U.S. and $389 billion of writedowns and credit losses.
``If the U.S. goes, Asia and the rest of the world will also go,'' said Leslie Phang, who helps oversee about $260 billion as Singapore-based head of investment at Schroders Plc's private- clients unit. ``We've now shifted from the scenario of slowdown driven by the credit crunch to that of stagflation because of high oil prices.''
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which makes iPods for Apple Inc. and computers for Dell Inc., slumped 3.3 percent to NT$175. Nintendo Co., maker of the Wii game console, slipped 1.7 percent to 57,300 yen.

Oil's Rally
The unemployment report sent the dollar lower, triggering demand among investors for commodities. Crude oil for July delivery rose 8.4 percent on June 6 to $138.54 a barrel in New York, the biggest-ever gain in dollar terms and the largest percentage increase since mid-June 1996. Futures reached a record high of $139.12 during the session.
Record oil prices sent South Korea's consumer confidence lower to 92.2 in May from 100.4 in April, according to the National Statistical Office. That's the weakest in more than three years. Oil prices topping $130 a barrel may slow global economic growth, Japan's Trade Minister Akira Amari said yesterday.
Korean Air, South Korea's largest airline, dropped 5 percent to 51,300 won, set for its biggest drop since April 14. Goldman Sachs cut its share-price estimate by 22 percent to 45,800 won in a report on June 6, saying airline stocks will lag behind other equities because of soaring fuel costs and a decline in traffic.

Flights Cancelled
China Airlines, Taiwan's largest carrier, dropped 5.4 percent to NT$14.90 after spokesman Bruce Chen said the company will cancel 100 passenger flights and 50 cargo services a month, or about 10 percent of its capacity, as jet-fuel prices surge.
EVA Airways Corp. will cancel about 5 percent of its passenger services from Sept. 1 to Dec. 1, spokeswoman Katherine Ko said. The stock fell 4.7 percent to NT$16.30 in Taipei.
Bharat Petroleum Corp., India's second-biggest state refiner, slumped 10 percent to 269.85 rupees on concern that increased fuel prices won't be able to offset losses. The government raised fuel prices on June 4 and reduced taxes to narrow more than $50 billion of revenue losses at refiners.

Indian Oil Corp., the largest, lost 7.7 percent to 349 rupees.
Via Technologies Inc., Taiwan's largest designer of computer processors, gained 6.8 percent to NT$21.95, the biggest advance on MSCI's Asian index. Via said it will cooperate with Nvidia Corp., the world's second-largest maker of graphics-processors, to develop chips for small-sized desktop computers and mini- notebooks.