Asian stocks swung between gains and losses as China’s pledge to keep inflation controls sent mainland developers lower while energy companies rose after oil traded above $100 a barrel.
China Resources Land Ltd. (1109), a state-owned developer, dropped 4.1 percent in Hong Kong after the People’s Bank of China said prices haven’t stabilized enough to allow looser monetary policy. Inpex Corp. (1605), Japan’s No. 1 energy explorer, advanced 1.2 percent. TDK Corp. (6762) soared 7.9 percent after it agreed to supply disk- drive heads to Western Digital Technologies.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent to 116.43 at 3:10 p.m. in Tokyo after swinging between losses and gains at least five times. Half of the index’s 10 industry groups fell. The gauge has lost 1.9 percent since Nov. 14.
“A sell-off in equities has ceased for now,” saidMitsushige Akino, who oversees about $600 million in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “There isn’t enough negative news to push markets down further. China will have to adopt growth-friendly policy given what’s going on in the rest of the world.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 0.2 percent, reversing an earlier decline of as much as 0.7 percent. The broader Topix rose 0.5 percent, rebounding after yesterday closing at its lowest level since March 12, 2009.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 1.1 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.4 percent after China’s central bank said it can’t loosen control over prices and reiterated Premier Wen Jiabao’s pledge to “fine-tune” policies when needed.
China Developers
China Resources fell 3.8 percent to HK$11.18 in Hong Kong. China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. (688) slid 1.7 percent to HK$13.08.
Energy companies rose after oil yesterday traded above $100 a barrel. Crude for December delivery slipped today as much as 97 cents to $101.62 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), an Australian miner and oil producer, rose 1.1 percent to A$37.04. Inpex advanced 1.2 percent to 492,500 yen. Smaller Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (1662) climbed 3.6 percent to 3,050 yen.
TDK jumped 8.8 percent to 3,535 yen after a regulatory filing showed a unit of Western Digital Corp. has agreed to buy components from the Japanese maker of disk drive heads.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 16 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 1.7 percent drop by the S&P 500 and a 14 percent loss by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 12.6 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 12.5 times for the S&P 500 and 10.3 times for the Stoxx 600.
‘Serious Risk’
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 0.5 percent today. The index dropped 1.7 percent in New York yesterday after Fitch Ratings said further turmoil in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain poses a “serious risk” to U.S. lenders. The risks are currently manageable, the ratings company said.
Esprit declined 4.7 percent to HK$9.16 amid signs economic growth is slowing in Europe, where the clothier gets 79 percent of sales. The Bank of England yesterday said Britain’s economy faces a “markedly weaker” outlook and Spain cut its economic forecast.
“This is a bad case for Europe and growth forecasters who were optimistic are definitely cutting back,” said Matt Riordan, who helps manage close to $6.4 billion in Sydney at Paradice Investment Management Pty. “We are going into quite a difficult point where some sort of a new strategy might be required.”
(source: Bloomberg)
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17/11/2011 03:14:18 PM | 