10.03.201407:09:25UTC+00Japan Shares Pullback as Economic Development Trails Projections

Japanese shares slumped, with the Topix index declining for the first time in five days, as data showed the economy progressed less than primarily projected and oil producers pulled back.

JX Holdings Inc. relinquished 1.3 percent after crude prices backslide. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. sagged down 1.1 percent after Boeing Co. said an alteration in the production process at the Japanese manufacturer may have caused hairline cracks in the wings of some 787 Dreamliners still in assembly. Daiichi Sankyo Co. gave up 1.6 percent after its Indian unit Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. recalled a generic cholesterol-lowering drug. Nidec Corp., which makes precision motors for disk drives, bolstered as much as 1.7 percent after declaring a two-for-one stock split.

The Topix surrendered 0.9 percent to 1,226.38 at the break in Tokyo, with all but one of the 33 industry groups pulling back. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average depreciated 1 percent to 15,121.33. The yen bolstered 0.2 percent to 103.06 per dollar after declining for four days.

“Japanese data was slightly weaker than forecast, which is negative for sentiment,” said Andrew Sullivan, director of sales trading at Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong. “The data is likely to add to further pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to deliver.”

Japan’s economy increased less than estimated in the fourth quarter and the current-account deficit widened to a record in January. Gross domestic product grew an annualized 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo, less than a preliminary projection of 1 percent and a 0.9 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. The current-account deficit widened to 1.59 trillion yen ($15.4 billion), the biggest in data back to 1985, the finance ministry said.

Futures on the S&P 500 plummeted 0.3 percent, signaling the U.S. equities benchmark will backed down from a record high when trading begins in New York. U.S. shares rallied last week as data showing stronger-than-projected jobs development outweighed concern the situation in Ukraine could worsen.