Asian Stocks Fall Ahead of Bernanke Speech

Most Asian stock markets fell in early trading Friday as investors nervously awaited a speech later in the day by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke amid growing worries over the pace of the U.S. economic recovery.

Sentiment was also sluggish as investors expected the United States to revise down economic growth in the April-June quarter from an annual pace of 2.4 percent announced earlier. The U.S. is to release revised GDP data for the April-June quarter Friday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average declined 77.38 points, or 0.9 percent, to 8,829.10 in the morning session. Investors shrugged off good news about Japan’s labor market. The government said Friday the nation’s jobless rate in July fell to 5.2 percent from 5.3 percent in June — the first decline in six months.

South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.4 percent to 1,722.61. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3 percent at 4,377.80.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2 percent to 20,563.09. The Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.5 percent to 2,591.11. Markets in Taiwan and New Zealand also slumped in early trading, while stocks in Singapore rose marginally.

In New York on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 74.25 points, or 0.7 percent, to 9,985.81. The Dow had traded below 10,000 several times this week, but hadn’t closed below that level since July 6.

Amid a raft of indicators pointing to a slowing economic recovery, investors hope that Bernanke’s speech on Friday will shed light on how weak the U.S. economy is and whether the Fed may take more steps to revive the world’s No. 1 economy.

In currencies, the dollar fell to 84.35 yen from 84.48 yen in New York late Thursday. The euro edged down to $1.2709 from $1.2713.

Benchmark oil for October delivery added 84 cents to settle at $73.36 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

TOKYO (AP)