Nikkei 225, the majority of depressions in seven weeks of concern about China's growth

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell over seven weeks on concerns that China do more to curb inflation and as banks and steel fell as analysts cut ratings on investment.

TDK Corp., a manufacturer of electronic products that received more than 30 percent of its sales in China fell by 3.6 percent. Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc., Japan's two steel makers, fell at least 2.6 percent after Mizuho Securities Co. cut its recommendation on the shares. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., the largest bank by market value, fell 2.2 percent after a rating cut by Credit Suisse Group AG.

"Fears that China will raise interest rates are rising," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, assistant director of investment strategy department at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. "People are worried about China's growth would be slower if the country tightens its policies."

The Nikkei 225 fell 1.9 percent to 9937.04 at 3 pm in Tokyo, the most since Oct. 12 and the first close below 10,000 since November 17. The broader Topix index lost 1.6 percent to 860.94, with six times as many stocks in retreat as progress. All but one of the industry groups of 33 Topix fell.

The Nikkei fell more among the major equity indicators in the Asia-Pacific. The decline accelerated this week after a fall on the Shanghai Composite Index in China, the largest destination for exports from Japan and the euro weakened against the yen, cutting the outlook for corporate profits in Europe.

Japan's industrial production fell and the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose in October, the government said the statistics office today, providing the first signs that the economy probably will shrink this quarter.

Best Performer

The Nikkei 225 rose at the fastest rate among the indicators for 40 major world capital markets this month yesterday, when it rose to its highest level since June. The increase of 8 percent for all of November was the largest monthly gain indicator since March.

This year, the Nikkei fell 5.8 percent, compared with an increase of 6.5 percent for the 500 Standard & Poor's in the U.S. and 3.3 percent for the Stoxx Europe 600 index. Stocks in the Japanese benchmark is valued at 17.4 times estimated earnings on average, versus 14 times for the S & P 500 and 11.6 times for the Stoxx 600.

TDK, the world's largest maker of magnetic heads for disk drives, fell 3.6 percent to 5.390 yen. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., which is the world's largest maker of giant excavators and receives more than a quarter of its sales in China, sank 3.1 percent to 1.908 yen. Komatsu Ltd., the maker of bulldozers which receives about 20 percent of its sales in China, fell 2.4 percent to 2.318 yen.

Inflation in China

China needs to raise interest rates by another 200 basis points to contain inflation, given the excess liquidity, Zhong Jiyin, an economist at the China Academy of Social Sciences, wrote in a commentary in today's China Daily.

China Purchasing Managers' Index, a gauge of manufacturing, is scheduled to be released tomorrow.

The yen rose to 109.99 against the euro today, the highest since Sept. 15. A stronger yen reduces the value of foreign earnings in Japanese companies when converted into local currency.

Steelmakers declined more among the 33, the Topix industry groups today. Nippon Steel fell 4.5 percent to 277 yen, the most since October 2009. JFE Holdings lost 2.6 percent to 2.661 yen. The companies declined to "neutral" from "outperform" from Mizuho Securities, said earnings will miss forecasts for the fiscal year ending in March. Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd., which was cut to "underperform" from "neutral", slipped 3.3 percent to 203 yen.

Put steel makers

The Nikkei newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information that the Japanese steelmakers may have to increase spending on raw materials for more than 50 billion yen (590 million) for the period January to March, from the current quarter due to higher prices of iron ore and coking coal.

Nintendo Co., the world's largest maker of portable game machines, was the biggest support for the Topix. The shares rose 3.4 percent to 22.730 yen, the highest since Aug. 18. Nintendo said it sold more Wii game consoles in the U.S. in the week as "Black Friday" on Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday, so named because when many U.S. retailers to be profitable.

haircuts for Credit Suisse dragged a group of banks in the Topix by the most since Oct. 15. Shinichi Ina, an analyst at the brokerage, cut its recommendations on Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. and Chuo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. to "neutral" from "outperform."

Mitsubishi UFJ fell 2.2 percent to 396 yen. Mizuho fell 1.5 percent to 133 yen. Sumitomo Trust retreated 2.8 percent to 444 yen. Chuo Mitsui fell 2.3 percent to 295 yen.