By Jonathan Burgos and Patrick Rial Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell, led by consumer companies and banks, after South Korea said it’s “unclear” whether the economic rebound will be sustained and New Zealand’s unemployment rate rose to a nine-year high. Samsung Electronics Co., Asia’s biggest maker of chips and mobile phones, lost 2.3 percent in Seoul as the country’s finance ministry said factory production probably slowed in October. Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. sank 8.6 percent after brokerages cut their share-price targets. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. lost 1.4 percent in Wellington, where the statistics bureau said the jobless rate climbed to 6.5 percent in the third quarter. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.7 percent to 114.52 as of 12:44 p.m. in Tokyo. The gauge has slumped 5.5 percent from a 13-month high on Oct. 20 amid concerns the withdrawal of stimulus measures will cause the global recovery to falter. The index is still up 62 percent from a five-year low on March 9. “The market is now reaching the point where monetary stimulus policies stop pushing up asset prices and earnings become the main focus,” said Koichi Kurose, who helps oversee $4.6 billion as chief strategist at Resona Bank Ltd. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 1.3 percent to 9,721.50. Sanyo Electric Co. tumbled 19 percent as Panasonic Corp. started a bid for the company at a discount. Acom Co., Japan’s largest consumer finance lender by market value, gained 7.8 percent after Citigroup Inc. upgraded the stock. Interest Rates Near Zero South Korea’s Kospi Index dropped 1.4 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.9 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.5 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index fell 0.5 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.5 percent. The gauge rose 0.1 percent yesterday as the Federal Reserve said it will keep interest rates near zero for “an extended period” and specified for the first time that policy will stay unchanged as long as inflation expectations are stable and unemployment fails to decline. The Fed is “quite concerned that a premature pullout of the low-interest environment and the withdrawal of stimulus spending will be detrimental to the U.S. economy and the rest of the world,” said Jofer Gaite, a fund manager at the Manila-based Government Service Insurance System, which has $10 billion in assets. “The ongoing recovery is still fragile and the Fed is resorting to all it can to avoid a prolonged recession.” Stocks in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index are valued at 22 times estimated earnings, compared with 17 times for the S&P 500 and 15 times for Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index. ‘Too Dependent’ Samsung Electronics declined 2.3 percent to 716,000 won. South Korea remains “too dependent” on external demand and the country needs to balance between export and local consumption, Finance Minister Yoon Jeung Hyun said. The government will continue its “macroeconomic policies and try to create more jobs and boost investment and consumption,” the country’s Finance Ministry said in a monthly report today. Doosan Heavy Industries slumped 8.6 percent to 59,700 won, set for its lowest closing level since July 15. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group AG cut their share-price targets after the company reported a third-quarter net loss. ANZ Bank, which gets 18 percent of revenue from New Zealand, fell 1.4 percent to NZ$28.60 in Wellington. Telecom Corp. of New Zealand, the country’s largest phone company, dropped 2 percent to NZ$2.49. Rising Unemployment New Zealand’s unemployment rate rose to a nine-year high in the third quarter from 6 percent in the previous three months, government statistics showed. Central bank Governor Alan Bollard said a strengthening currency will slow the nation’s recovery from a recession. In Tokyo, Sanyo tumbled 19 percent to 176 yen after Panasonic offered to buy the company for a price of 131 yen a share. Sanyo stock closed yesterday at 216 yen. Goldman Sachs and two other banks that in 2006 bailed out Sanyo, the world’s biggest maker of rechargeable batteries, have agreed to sell a combined 50 percent stake for 403 billion yen ($4.5 billion). Among stocks that gained today, Acom rose 7.8 percent to 1,600 yen. Citigroup upgraded the shares to “hold” from “sell.” The brokerage raised its rating on Japan’s consumer lenders to “neutral” from “bearish.”

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