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Asian stocks fell toward this month’s low, while copper declined as a revaluation of Singapore’s dollar fanned concern policy tightening will curb economic growth in the region.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.2 percent to 135.80 as of 12:45 p.m. in Tokyo. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed and copper declined for a fourth day. The Singapore dollar rose to a record, the only one of 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg to outperform the yen.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it will allow further gains in its currency after the city’s economy grew at more than twice the pace economists estimated last quarter. China’s State Council said the world’s second-largest economy needs to implement “prudent” monetary policy and ensure stable prices, before data tomorrow that may show the fastest inflation since July 2008. In the U.S., economic reports are forecast to show wholesale prices and the cost of living rose last month.

“The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s tightening to combat inflation appears to be spurring risk aversion,” said Marito Ueda, senior managing director in Tokyo at FX Prime Corp., a foreign-exchange margin company. “Equities are falling. The bias is for commodity currencies to be sold.”

About five shares declined for every three that gained on MSCI’s Asia Pacific index. Materials stocks paced declines, with BHP Billiton Ltd. sliding 1.4 percent in Sydney and Rio Tinto Group losing 0.6 percent.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (1398) Ltd. retreated 1.2 percent in Hong Kong after Bloomberg News reported that Chinese banks may have to raise about 860 billion yuan ($131 billion) of stock over six years to meet stricter capital rules. The estimate was made by the industry regulator, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Singapore Revaluation

The Singapore dollar rose 0.6 percent to S$1.2484 against the greenback and earlier touched S$1.2480, the strongest level in Bloomberg data going back to 1981. The Monetary Authority of Singapore raised the mid-point of the currency’s trading band at a semi-annual policy review today after inflation exceeded 5 percent during the first quarter for the first time since 2008. The economy grew at an annualized rate of 23.5 percent in the last three months, double the 11.4 percent pace forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists, data showed today.

Faster inflation “is the price of strong growth, it’s the price of the strong run we’ve seen in commodity prices,” Sanjay Mathur, head of research and strategy for non-Japan Asia at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “At this stage, I don’t think we can conclude that this is the last of the tightening.”

The island’s central bank uses the exchange rate rather than interest rates to conduct policy and a stronger currency helps limit inflation by making imported goods cheaper.

Demi Lovato has praised Catherine Zeta-Jones for her 'bravery' for seeking treatment for bipolar disorder.

The Disney star recently underwent a spell in rehab for an eating disorder. She Tweeted her support for the Welsh actress who entered rehab for five days to seek treatment for
the mental illness that sees sufferers experience extreme emotional highs and lows.

Lovato wrote, 'I don't know Catherine Zeta-Jones personally but what she has decided to do it SO brave. And SO difficult but worth it... I'm proud of her.'

The 18-year-old also revealed that she suffered a 'nervous breakdown' before her family managed to persuade her to seek help last Autumn.

She told Seventeen magazine, 'I was really bad off. My parents and my manager pulled me aside and said, 'You need to get some help.' It was an intervention. I wanted freedom
from the inner demons. I wanted to start my life over.'

The real-life dispute at the center of last year's Oscar award-winning film, "The Social Network," moved a step closer to legal resolution Monday.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 2008 settlement deal between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Olympic rowing twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss is valid.

The Winklevoss twins had accused Mr. Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for their social networking site, ConnectU, and turning it into Facebook. The settlement reportedly gave the Winklevoss twins and a colleague shares in Facebook. Lawyers for ConnectU have since argued that the Winklevosses were fraudulently misled about the value of Facebook and that crucial details were omitted from the settlement.
The Ninth Circuit disagreed Monday. The twins have indicated they will file for “en banc” review – an attempt to have the full court rule on the case. But most legal analysts expect the ruling to stand, particularly since the three-judge panel was unanimous.

“Rarely does any court of appeals grant a rehearing by a greater number of judges if there has been no dissent in the decision below,” says Doug Mirell, a partner at the Los Angeles offices of Loeb & Loeb, a national firm.

“This decision really comes as very little of a surprise, as the court indicated that the Winklevosses were sophisticated parties who were represented by able counsel as well as by their own father, a former accounting professor at the Wharton School and an expert in valuation,” Mr. Mirell adds.

Facebook, now estimated to be worth more than $50 billion, is the world's largest social-networking site with 500 million members. Facebook's legal team argued at the January hearing in San Francisco that it was the responsibility of the ConnectU owners to determine what Facebook was worth.

San Diego attorney Dwight Ritter says the court agreed.

“It was the disgruntled graduates’, and their lawyers’, responsibility to determine the stock value before they settled,” says Mr. Ritter. “In essence, the Ninth Circuit is holding that a voluntary and willing settlement, among adverse parties in litigation, will be upheld unless there are extraordinary circumstances showing that the settlement was fraudulently obtained. Differences of opinion at the time of the settlement are simply not enough to void the settlement agreement.”

Mirell believes the Winklevosses will follow through as they have stated they will: “They’ve said they are going to take this higher and I believe, them. They certainly have enough money to do so. But I would not place a bet on them winning.”

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