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By Bloomberg

Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index heading for a two-week low, as phone companies led declines. The Shanghai Composite Index climbed to a five- year high.

China Mobile Ltd. fell 1.4 percent in Hong Kong to pace losses among phone companies. AirAsia Bhd. slipped 4.4 percent in Kuala Lumpur after Indonesian authorities said over the weekend that the carrier wasn’t authorized to fly to Singapore on the day its passenger jet crashed. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. jumped 2.5 percent after a report Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said a stock link with Shenzhen should be established.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.7 percent to 136.99 as of 4:09 p.m. in Hong Kong, heading for its lowest close since Dec. 23. The gauge slipped 2.5 percent in 2014, its first annual decline since 2011, as commodity companies tumbled amid signs of slowing expansion in the region’s biggest economy. Chinese shares rallied today after a factory activity gauge fell to an 18-month low in December, adding pressure on policy makers to do more to support growth.

“There’s a bit of caution as well as some profit-taking given the window-dressing we had last month,” Ryan Huang, a Singapore-based strategist at IG Ltd., said by phone. “There’s no real bright spot yet on the data front. The Chinese market has been driven by expectations of stimulus measures.”

Regional Indexes

Japan’s Topix index dropped 0.5 percent, erasing earlier gains of 0.2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index slid 0.6 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex index lost 0.4 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index declined 1.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slid 0.6 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.3 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.6 percent.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index jumped 3.6 percent to its highest close since August 2009 as investors piled into shares of the largest companies and developers on the first trading day of 2015. Property shares advanced after Beijing said it would raise the cap on housing-fund loans for first-time buyers.

“The bull market is continuing with funds rotating to big developers and transport companies,” said Wei Wei, an analyst at West China Securities Co. in Shanghai. “Liquidity is still good and funds are looking for bargains in the large-cap sector.”

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent. The benchmark equity index dropped less than 0.1 percent on Jan. 2 after a report showed U.S. manufacturing expanded less than forecast in December.