SYDNEY - Asian stocks fell for the first week in four as China's inflation rose faster than estimated and the International Monetary Fund cut growth forecasts for the United States and Japan.

China Resources Land Ltd, a State-controlled developer, slid 6.7 percent in Hong Kong on concern China will need to do more to contain growth. Rio Tinto Group, the world's No 2 miner by sales, lost 2.4 percent in Sydney as commodity prices slid. James Hardie Industries SE, the largest seller of home siding in the United States, fell 3.6 percent, while Toyota Motor Corp, the world's largest carmaker, lost 3 percent as Japan said problems at a stricken nuclear plant were worse than previously stated.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.5 percent to 135.82 last week. The gauge rose for three straight weeks previously after the US unemployment rate dropped to a two-year low and companies from Hitachi Ltd to Toyota said factories in Japan shut after the nation's strongest earthquake on record would reopen this month.

"Investor sentiment is deteriorating because it seems uncertainty is going to remain for a long period of time," said Ikuo Mitsui, who helps manage $270 million at Vivace Capital Management Co. "There's concern about how disruptions to Japan's supply chain will affect the global economy."

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.6 percent, while China's Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index added 0.7 percent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index shed 1.8 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1.8 percent as the government raised the severity rating of its post-earthquake nuclear crisis to the highest level, matching the rating of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

China inflation

China Resources Land fell 6.7 percent to HK$14.60. China Vanke Co, the country's biggest-listed developer, dropped 2.7 percent to 8.9 yuan in the southern city of Shenzhen.

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China said its economy grew a more-than-estimated 9.7 percent in the first quarter from a year before and the rate of inflation accelerated to 5.4 percent in March from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 2008. That exceeded the estimate of a 9.4 percent increase in gross domestic product and price increases at a rate of 5.2 percent, according to the median estimates of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The central bank has raised the reserve-requirement ratio for banks nine times since the start of 2010 and borrowing costs four times.

"China's economic growth remains robust," said Benjamin Tam, a portfolio manager at IG Investment Ltd, which oversees about $1.98 billion. "The government may continue to step up tightening measures in the second quarter. The overall market will remain optimistic because of the stronger growth, but there could be some concerns on the rate hike."

Commodity producers

Rio Tinto dropped 2.4 percent to HK$84.15 in Sydney and CNOOC Ltd, a Chinese offshore oil producer, sank 5.6 percent to HK$19.58 in Hong Kong as oil and copper prices slumped last week. Crude slid 2.8 percent, settling at $109.66 a barrel in New York, while copper prices declined 5 percent to $4.2775 a pound.

"Crude oil prices have pushed ahead of where fundamentals currently suggest," analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc led by Jeffrey Currie in London wrote in a report on April 15. "The near-term downside risk to prices has risen in recent weeks" on "nascent signs of demand destruction in the United States".

In Sydney, James Hardie fell 3.6 percent to A$5.95. In Seoul, Samsung Electronics Co, which receives 20 percent of its revenue from North America, lost 1.1 percent to 888,000 won. Toyota retreated 3 percent to 3,240 yen in Tokyo. Sony Corp, Japan's largest exporter of consumer electronics, retreated 5.9 percent to 2,461 yen.

The US economy will expand 2.8 percent this year, slowing from 2.9 percent last year and less than the 3 percent growth for 2011 forecast in January, the IMF said. The Washington-based fund also cut its estimate of Japan's growth to 1.4 percent from 1.6 percent in the previous forecast after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Bloomberg News