Asian Stocks Fall on China Factory Data as Energy Shares Retreat

Asian stocks fell for the first time in four days as data showed a Chinese factory gauge slipped to a five-month low and energy shares retreated amid a drop in oil. Lotte Chemical Corp. sank 14 percent in Seoul, leading declines on the regional equities gauge. China Mengniu Dairy Co. declined 4.3 percent in Hong Kong after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommended selling the shares. Offshore energy explorer Cnooc Ltd. fell 1.5 percent. MediaTek Inc. tumbled 9.9 percent in Taipei amid a weak sales outlook. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index slipped 0.8 percent to 140.95 as of 5:36 p.m. in Tokyo. The measure lost 0.4 percent last week for a second weekly decline. The official China Purchasing Managers’ Index sat at 50 for July, compared with the median estimate of 50.1 in a Bloomberg survey and down from June’s 50.2. Energy shares sank as crude futures in New York slid […]

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