Asian stocks fell for the first time in nine days, snapping the longest winning streak on the regional gauge this year, with telecommunication and technology shares leading declines.
Nikkei 225 14,808.85 -254.92 -1.69%
S&P/ASX 200 5,413.7 -9.13 -0.17%
Naver Corp. slumped 6.5 percent in Seoul, SoftBank Corp. lost 4.6 percent in Tokyo and Tencent Holdings Ltd. fell 4.3 percent in Hong Kong as telecom and technology shares slid.
Fanuc Corp., a Japanese maker of factory equipment, sank 1.7 percent, leading industrial firms lower.
Japanese drug company Daiichi Sankyo Co. rose 3.3 percent after Indian drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. agreed to buy Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. in a $4 billion stock deal. Daiichi owns 63.5 percent of Ranbaxy.