Asian Stocks Drop as China’s Industrial Profit Declines

Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index heading for a three-week low, as a drop in profit at Chinese industrial companies offset optimism policy makers around world will move to boost growth.

Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s biggest supplier of the metal, slid 1.9 percent in Hong Kong. Samsung Electronics Co. tumbled by the most in almost four years in Seoul after a U.S. jury ruled that the world’s No. 1 maker of smartphones infringed Apple Inc. patents. Olympus Corp., the world’s largest manufacture of endoscopes, rose 4.4 percent in Tokyo after agreeing to sell unit ITX Corp.’s telecommunications business for 53 billion yen ($674 million).