Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Australian stocks fell for a fourth day in five. Mayne Group Ltd., Lihir Gold Ltd. and Pacifica Group Ltd. were among the top decliners in the S&P/ASX 200 Index after their ratings were cut by brokerages.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 40.3, or 0.9 percent, to 4428.8 at the 4:05 p.m. close in Sydney. About 13 stocks dropped for every five that rose.

The Australian benchmark has dropped 4.3 percent the past 10 days, the biggest drop for such a period since Feb. 14, 2003, partly on concern share prices don't reflect future earnings.

Stocks such as BHP Billiton, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Rinker Group Ltd., which paced the index's advance to a record high this year, have led the decline.

``Investors have been taking a hard look at how far the index has come and some of them are getting nervous and taking cash out,'' said Patrick Crabb, head of institutional sales at Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty in Melbourne.

New Zealand's NZSX 50 Index fell 0.3 percent to 3404.85 at the 5 p.m. close in Wellington. Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd., which holds the country's KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks Coffee franchises, dropped.

Pacifica, a maker of brake parts, slipped 11 cents, or 5.9 percent, to A$1.75. It was the biggest decliner in the benchmark index.

A measure of U.S. auto-related companies slumped 5.7 percent in New York. The odds of a bankruptcy filing by General Motors Corp., a customer of Pacifica's, tripled after Delphi Corp., the largest U.S. auto-parts maker, filed for Chapter 11 protection, according to a Banc of America Securities analyst.

`High Risk'

Andrew Gibson, an analyst at Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty, cut Pacifica to ``underperform'' from ``market perform.''

``We regard any investment in Pacifica as high risk,'' Gibson said in a note to clients.

Lihir, which owns a mine in Papua New Guinea, lost 9 cents, or 4.9 percent, to A$1.74, the third-biggest decliner in the benchmark. The stock was cut to ``neutral'' from ``buy'' by Fleur Grose, an analyst at UBS AG in Sydney. Lihir yesterday said a landslide cut production from its processing plant.

Mayne, Australia's biggest health-care company, slumped 20 cents, or 3.7 percent, to A$5.23 -- the seventh-largest fall on the S&P/ASX 200.

Alexander McGee, an analyst at UBS in Sydney, cut the stock to ``neutral'' from ``buy,'' saying the shares are unlikely to climb to between A$6 and A$7 over the next three-years until management presents a clear strategy to boost earnings.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index's futures contract for December fell 0.9 percent to 4442. The broader All Ordinaries Index dropped 0.8 to 4392.30.

The following shares also rose or fell. The stock symbols are in brackets after the company names.

Australian stocks:

Alumina Ltd. (AWC AU), a partner with Alcoa Inc. in a venture with a quarter of the world's alumina production capacity, lost 3 cents, or 0.5 percent, to A$5.68. U.S.-based Alcoa, the world's biggest aluminum maker, said profit in its main aluminum businesses fell on higher costs for raw materials.

BlueScope Steel Ltd. (BSL AU), Australia's biggest steelmaker, slid 24 cents, or 2.8 percent, to A$8.49. South Korea's Posco, the world's fifth-largest steelmaker, may report its smallest quarterly profit gain in three years as the cost of iron ore and coal rose to a record.

PMP Ltd. (PMP AU), Australia's biggest contract printer, rose 11 cents, or 7.2 percent, to A$1.64. The stock was raised to ``outperform'' from ``market perform'' by analysts at Credit Suisse First Boston after the company hired John Fairfax Holdings Ltd.'s second-in-command Brian Evans as chief executive, replacing David Kirk who accepted the top job at Fairfax six weeks ago.

New Zealand:

Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd. (RBD NZ), which has the country's KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks Coffee franchises, slumped 13 cents, or 9.3 percent, to A$1.27. The company said CVC Asia Pacific, a venture between London's CVC Capital Partners and New York-based Citigroup Inc., abandoned a takeover offer because it couldn't agree to terms with Yum! Brands Inc.

To contact the reporter for this story: Stuart Kelly in Sydney skelly22@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 11, 2005 02:36 EDT