Asia Stocks Slip as China Lending Data Point to Slowdown

Asian stocks slipped to a two-week low as Chinese equities tumbled after a report showed the slowest increase in the nation’s money supply on record, underscoring risks of a deepening slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index posted its biggest drop in almost a month after central bank data showed aggregate financing in China slid 19 percent in March from a year earlier and money supply grew at the slowest pace on record. Asics Corp. added 3.6 percent in Tokyo after Nomura Holdings Inc. advised buying shares of the sportswear maker. CapitaMalls Asia Ltd. soared a record 21 percent in Singapore after CapitaLand Ltd., Southeast Asia’s biggest developer, offered to buy the rest of its mall unit for about S$3.06 billion ($2.4 billion).