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By Bloomberg

Japanese stocks fell for a third day amid concerns about Chinese economic growth and as investors weighed minutes from the Federal Reserve.

Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., a Toyota Motor Corp. supplier, dropped 1.8 percent after a report it agreed to cut prices for the automaker. Oil explorers fell after the price of crude extended its drop. SoftBank Group Corp. gained 3 percent after President Nikesh Arora said he’ll buy about 60 billion yen ($483 million) of the carrier’s shares.

The Topix index lost 0.9 percent to 1,633.06 at the trading break in Tokyo, with about three shares falling for each that gained. Volume on the measure was about 11 percent below the 30- day intraday average. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 0.6 percent to 20,100.14.

“The uncertain outlook surrounding China and the nearing U.S. rate hike is weighing on the market,” said Soichiro Monji, chief strategist at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd., which oversees 5.8 trillion yen. “With many investors still away on summer break and with volumes low, small selling is compounding the drop.”

China’s currency devaluation continued to roil emerging- market assets, with concern over the impact of a Chinese slowdown on global growth fueling a rout in commodities.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index sank a fifth day Thursday, headed for its weakest level since October 2011. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped 1.3 percent. The gauge has fallen 20 percent from its peak in April to meet the common definition of a bear market.

U.S. Futures

E-mini futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added less than 0.1 percent after the underlying gauge slipped 0.8 percent in New York on Wednesday.

U.S. policy makers said at their meeting in July that they need to see further improvement in the U.S. labor market and inflation rate before raising rates, the Fed minutes showed. The consumer price index climbed 0.1 percent in July, the smallest advance in three months, a Labor Department report showed Wednesday in Washington.

The Fed meeting occurred before China’s devaluation on Aug. 11, a move that had already prompted some investors to scale back bets on a September hike. Those odds were reduced after the Fed minutes, with traders pricing in a 36 percent probability of an increase next month, down from more than 50 percent earlier in August.

“The Fed is lacking decisive reasons to raise rates,” Mitsushige Akino, executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, said by phone. “Concerns about the global economy are a burden, and cheaper oil increases concerns about global growth.”

Oil plunged to the lowest level in more than six years in New York after a government report showed U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly increased last week.

Brent for October settlement fell 3.4 percent to end the session at $47.16 a barrel. The Bloomberg Commodity Index slipped a seventh day, losing 0.9 percent to its lowest close since January 2002.