Asian Stocks Drop

Asian stocks dropped from a three- week high. Tokyo Electric Power Co. led Japanese power producers lower on concern about mismanagement in the industry.

``Successive scandals involving power producers have been coming to light,'' said Hideyuki Ookoshi, who oversees $365 million at Chiba-Gin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. ``There's concern more scandals will emerge, and that's causing the shares to be sold off.''

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. led a measure of energy stocks higher after crude-oil prices climbed for a fifth day.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index slid 0.2 percent to 145.71 as of 10:49 a.m. in Tokyo, sliding from its highest since Feb. 27. The benchmark rallied 3.3 percent last week, the first weekly gain since a rout that began last month wiped $3.3 trillion from the value of global markets.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 0.1 percent to 17,468.47. The broader Topix index dropped 0.4 percent. Markets open for trading elsewhere rose. China's Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index climbed 0.4 percent, set for a record high.

Tokyo Electric, Japan's No. 1 power producer, slid 2.1 percent to 4,240 yen. Kansai Electric Power Co., the second largest, fell 2.9 percent to 3,710 yen.

Tokyo Electric said on March 22 an accident that may have occurred at its Fukushima Daiichi plant in 1978 could have caused a nuclear chain reaction. Hokuriku Electric Power Co. was ordered to halt operations at its Shika No. 1 reactor on March 15 after the company said it covered up an accident eight years ago.