Asian stocks wipe out this year's gains

Singapore: Asian stocks fell, with a regional index posting its worst week in almost eight months, as Europe's debt crisis worsened, US economic data missed estimates and Chinese home prices and investment declined.

Samsung Electronics Co sank 11 per cent in South Korea. Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd., China's second-biggest developer by sales volume, plunged 16 per cent in Hong Kong after China's home prices slid in a record number of mainland cities during April. Hokuetsu Kishu Paper Co. dropped 14 per cent in Tokyo after forecasting a decline in profit.

"Investor sentiment is at its worst," said Masaru Hamasaki, chief strategist at Toyota Asset Management Co., which oversees the equivalent of about $23.8 billion. "We don't know what will happen with Greece, and when something does happen, we don't know what impact that will have. All people can do is escape from risks, a so-called panic."

The MSCI Asia Pacific Japan Index declined 5.1 per cent to 112.58 last week, wiping out this year's gains. That's the steepest weekly slide since the week ended September 23.

Almost $4 trillion has been wiped from global equity markets this month as Greece's failure to form a government rekindled Europe's debt crisis and signs of slowing economic growth in China and US damped the outlook for global demand.

China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 2.1 per cent last week after the nation's home prices fell from a year earlier in April in a record 46 of 70 cities tracked by the government as officials pledged to keep restrictions on property purchases that have sapped buyer demand. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index sank 5.1 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average decreased 3.8 per cent last week. The broader Topix Index fell 4.3 per cent, capping the longest streak of weekly losses since the September 11 attacks in 2001. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index retreated 5.6 per cent; South Korea's Kospi Index lost 7 per cent last week.

Esprit Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed clothier that gets most of its revenue from Europe plunged 17 per cent to HK$12.56. Port operator Hutchison Whampoa Ltd dropped 6.4 per cent.