Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell to the lowest in almost two years, led by transport companies, after Nissan Motor Co.'s earnings dropped and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said a customer canceled an order.

Nissan, Japan's No. 3 automaker, declined the most in more than four months. Olympus Corp. slumped after profit decreased the most in almost three years. Daewoo Shipbuilding led losses in Seoul on concern that slowing growth may prompt more customers to scrap ship purchases, ending five years of record orders for shipyards. BHP Billiton Ltd. retreated after copper sank the most in three weeks.

``We expect corporate earnings to stay weak for the rest of 2008 in Asia,'' said Diane Lin, Sydney-based portfolio manager at Pengana Capital, which oversees about $1.9 billion. Exporters ``such as Japanese and Korean automakers will see a challenging second half,'' she said.

The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index lost 1.6 percent to 128.50 at 7:16 p.m. in Tokyo, adding to its 1.3 percent decline on Aug. 1. About five stocks retreated for every two that gained on the index, which was set for its lowest close since Oct. 4, 2006.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1.2 percent to 12,933.18, its lowest close since July 18. China's CSI 300 Index retreated 2.4 percent. Most other Asian stock markets dropped.

Yamaha Corp. slumped in Tokyo by the most in almost four years after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its rating on the Japanese maker of musical instruments. Lend Lease Corp. plunged in Sydney by the most in 7 1/2 years after the developer's profit dropped because of writedowns in the U.K.

U.S. Stocks Drop

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures lost 0.3 percent today. U.S. stocks fell on Aug. 1, adding to two months of losses for the S&P 500, after the Labor Department said the jobless rate climbed to 5.7 percent in July. General Motors Corp., the No. 1 U.S. carmaker, plunged after posting the third-biggest loss in its 100-year history, coinciding with a report showing that U.S. auto sales tumbled 13 percent in July.

Nissan lost 4.8 percent to 788 yen, the biggest drop since March 17. Net income slumped 43 percent for the three months ended June after the automaker said on Aug. 1 it wrote down the value of leased vehicles. UBS AG, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Credit Suisse Group cut their share-price forecasts.

Mazda Motor Corp., a third owned by Ford Motor Co., fell 8.8 percent to 552 yen, the biggest loss since December 2001, after it posted a 13 percent decline in U.S. sales last month, the most among Japanese carmakers. Toyota Motor Corp., the nation's largest, dropped 3.3 percent to 4,460 yen, its lowest close since August 2005.

`Extremely Poor' Figures

``The U.S. auto figures were extremely poor,'' said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist in Tokyo at Daiwa Asset Management Co., which manages about $94 billion. ``I expect the gradual deterioration of the U.S. economy to continue until the beginning of next year.''

Metals prices fell on Aug. 1, partly on speculation that demand from automakers will drop. Platinum declined the most in four months in New York, while copper decreased 2.3 percent, the most since July 8.

BHP, the world's biggest mining company, retreated 1.9 percent to A$38.35. Rio Tinto Group, the third-largest, slipped 2.9 percent to A$118.10. Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Japan's biggest nickel producer, slumped 8.3 percent to 1,278 yen.

Steelmakers slid on concern demand will wane. JFE Holdings Inc., Japan's No. 2 steelmaker, retreated 6.7 percent to 4,730 yen, while Posco, South Korea's biggest, fell 3.4 percent to 513,000 won.

Shipbuilders

Daewoo Shipbuilding, the world's third-largest shipbuilder, plunged 14 percent to 35,450 won, the largest decline since August 2007 and the biggest loser on MSCI's Asian index. A European customer canceled an order worth 619 billion won ($609 million) for eight container vessels, the company said on Aug. 1.

Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., a unit of the world's largest shipbuilder, lost 6.6 percent to 184,500 won. The company also scrapped a 197 billion won contract after an unidentified European customer failed to make an initial payment.

Olympus declined 5.2 percent to 3,310 yen, the lowest since July 18, after the Japanese camera maker posted a 63 percent drop in net income, its biggest quarterly profit decline in almost three years.

Yamaha slumped 8.4 percent to 1,888 yen, its biggest drop since May 2004, after Goldman Sachs cut its rating for the company to ``sell'' from ``neutral,'' citing the outlook for earnings. Yamaha on Aug. 1 cut its profit forecast for the year ending March 2009.

Lend Lease

Lend Lease, the Sydney-based developer building London's 2012 Olympic Village, dropped 13 percent to A$8.66 after saying net income declined 47 percent as it wrote down U.K. assets for the third-straight year and global property values fell. The shares posted their largest loss since December 2000.

Asciano Ltd., the Australian port and rail owner spun out of Toll Holdings Ltd. last year, soared a record 16 percent to A$4.83, the biggest gain on MSCI's Asian index. TPG Capital, the buyout arm of David Bonderman's TPG Inc., and Global Infrastructure Partners offered A$2.9 billion ($2.7 billion) for the company.

Losses in Tokyo were pared after Astellas Pharma Inc., Japan's second-largest drugmaker, said it will spend as much as 50 billion yen ($465 million) to buy back 2 percent of its shares. Net income in the three months ended June 30 rose 5.1 percent.

The stock jumped 5.3 percent to 4,950 yen, pacing a 1.5 percent gain in the MSCI Asia-Pacific Health Care Index.

To contact the reporter for this story: Chen Shiyin in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net; Chua Kong Ho in Shanghai at kchua6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 4, 2008 06:29 EDT