Asian stocks fell

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4% to 135.01. The Asia-Pacific measure advanced 4.8% this year through yesterday.

Japan’s Topix index dropped 0.8%, its first decline in five days. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 1.5%.

Japanese shares have topped gains this year among 24 major developed equity markets tracked by Bloomberg News. The Topix surged 42 percent through yesterday and the Nikkei 225 soared 43 percent as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda pushed to stoke the nation’s inflation rate to 2 percent. Elections on July 21 are expected to give Abe a mandate to pursue reforms.

South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.2%, while Taiwan’s Taiex index dropped 1.6%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.4% and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index fell 0.6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was little changed and China’s Shanghai Composite Index declined 1.%.

A gauge of information technology companies led declines among the 10 industry groups in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.

Advantest, the world’s biggest maker of chip-manufacturing equipment, sank 7% in Tokyo after Nomura Holdings Inc. lowered its rating on the stock. TSMC, as the No. 1 contract manufacturer of chips is known, dropped 6.9% in Taipei after forecasting sales that trailed estimates. Orica Ltd., the largest maker of industrial explosives, slumped 1% in Sydney after cutting its profit forecast.

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