Asian Stocks Swing Between Gains, Losses on US Data – Businessweek

Asian stocks fell, with the regional
benchmark index poised for the first two-day loss in almost
three weeks, as Japanese shares slid after data on U.S.
manufacturing missed estimates and the yen strengthened.

Canon Inc. (7751), a camera maker that gets 27 percent of its
revenue in the Americas, lost 3.4 percent in Tokyo. Toyota Motor
Corp. (7203), the world’s biggest carmaker, slid 3.1 percent as
Japanese vehicle sales fell by the most in six quarters. Shui On
Land Ltd., the Chinese developer controlled by Hong Kong
billionaire Vincent Lo, slumped 13 percent after profit dropped
and the company announced a rights issue. STX Offshore &
Shipbuilding Co. plunged 15 percent in Seoul trading as it seeks
help from creditor banks

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.1 percent to 134.00
as of 4:10 p.m. in Tokyo, with about three stocks losing for
every two that gained. The MSCI Asia Pacific Excluding Japan
Index added 0.2 percent to 472.63.

“The bar has been set quite high now after such a long
stretch of economic data outperforming expectations, and we are
likely to go through a period when economic data will miss
expectations,” said Nader Naeimi, Sydney-based head of dynamic
asset allocation at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., which manages
$126 billion. “Markets are quite vulnerable to a corrective
stage.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 3.7 percent this year
through yesterday, led by Japanese shares on speculation the
nation will deploy more stimulus. The Asia benchmark traded at
14.8 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 14.1
times for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 12.6 times for the
Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

BOJ Meeting

Japan’s Topix Index dropped 0.9 percent before the Bank of
Japan convenes April 3-4 in its first policy meeting after new
Governor Haruhiko Kuroda took the post. Kuroda has pledged to do
whatever it takes to beat deflation.

South Korea’s Kospi Index dropped 0.5 percent.
International investors sold the most South Korean equities in
10 months in March amid concern the nation’s exporters will lose
market share to Japanese rivals and as tension with North Korea
built.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.4 percent as the
Reserve Bank of Australia kept its benchmark interest rate
unchanged today. Billabong International Ltd., Australia’s
largest surf-wear company, halted trade in its shares as it
negotiates rival private equity bids. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index
dropped 0.3 percent.

Markets Reopen

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 and the Shanghai
Composite Index fell 0.3 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex Index (TWSE) added 0.2
percent. Singapore’s Straits Times Index was little changed.
Markets in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong reopened today
after a four-day weekend.

“We’ve had two days off and missed a lot of big news over
that period, and I think chances are markets are likely to tread
water a bit now as we move into the beginning of the first-
quarter earnings season,” saidGarry Evans, head of global
equity strategy at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong. “We’ve had a
big run in Japan and people are starting to look at the Bank of
Japan meeting on Thursday and thinking it’s unlikely to beat
very high expectations.”

Futures on the S&P 500 (SXXP) rose 0.1 percent today. The index
fell 0.5 percent in New York yesterday, retreating from a record
high, as the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index
fell to 51.3 in March from 54.2 February, the Tempe, Arizona-
based group said. The median forecast of economists surveyed by
Bloomberg was for 54. A reading of 50 is the dividing line
between growth and contraction.

Yen Rises

The yen rose against 14 of its 16 major counterparts. A
stronger yen cuts the value of overseas earnings at Japanese
exporters when repatriated.

Japanese exporters fell with Canon sliding 3.4 percent to
3,245 yen. Komatsu Ltd., a maker of construction equipment that
gets about 80 percent of sales overseas, slipped 3.9 percent to
2,123 yen.

Carmakers fell after the number of vehicles sold in Japan,
Asia’s second-largest auto market, fell 9.4 percent to 1.53
million in the three months through March, with Toyota recording
a 15 percent drop, according to data released yesterday. In
South Korea, the region’s fourth-largest vehicle market,
deliveries slid 2.5 percent as Hyundai Motor Co. suffered a 0.7
percent contraction, based on company statements.

Toyota dropped 3.1 percent to 4,615 yen. Nissan Motor Co.,
Japan’s third-biggest carmaker, slipped 3.5 percent to 856 yen.
Hyundai Motor, the biggest South Korean carmaker, lost 1.1
percent to 219,500 won.

Shui On Land slumped 13 percent to HK$2.91 in Hong Kong
after saying March 28 that it will issue as many as 2.25 billion
shares at HK$1.84 each. Underlying profit fell 87 percent to 201
million yuan ($32 million) in 2012 from a year earlier.

STX Offshore led declines among STX Group units, plunging
15 percent to 5,160 won. STX Group has been selling assets,
including its entire stakes in STX OSV Holdings Ltd. and STX
Energy Co., as it seeks to raise 2.5 trillion won ($2.2 billion)
to pay debt.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at
ynohara1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Nick Gentle at
ngentle2@bloomberg.net