Asian stocks fluctuated after completing a seventh weekly advance last week, as Australian asset managers climbed following a private-equity bid for Perpetual Ltd, countering declines among commodity producers.
Perpetual jumped 22 per cent after Kohlberg Kravis Roberts offered as much as $1.75 billion for the company. Challenger Financial Services Group surged 5.4 per cent. BHP Billiton sank 0.8 per cent after abandoning plans to create the world's largest iron-ore exporter, and as commodity prices sank. Mazda dropped 0.5 per cent in Tokyo after Nikkei English News reported Ford may lower its stake in the company.
“Investors are in a wait-and-see mood as they look to see what's coming in the way of policy stimulus in the US and elsewhere,” said Stephen Halmarick, head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management in Sydney. “The data is mixed at the moment, and that's why we're seeing a pretty slow pace today.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 per cent to 131.69 as after reaching its highest level since July 2008 last week. About four stocks rose for every three that fell on the nearly 1000-member gauge, which advanced as much as 0.2 per cent earlier today. The measure completed its seventh weekly advance last week, the longest winning streak since 2006.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.5 per cent today. South Korea's Kospi Index fell 1 per cent. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 0.9 per cent, while New Zealand's NZX 50 Index advanced 0.2 per cent in Wellington.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 1 per cent as HSBC led banks lower.
Tech shares
Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index retreated 0.3 per cent. The US index rose 0.2 per cent on Oct. 15 in New York as companies such as Google fuelled a rally in technology shares that helped offset a decline in bank shares and an unexpected drop in consumer confidence.
Perpetual soared 22 per cent to $37.71 in Sydney. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts offered to buy the Australian asset manager to tap expanding wealth in one of the world's fastest growing developed economies.
The offer from the New York-based private-equity firm is priced between $38 and $40 per share, Perpetual said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange today, 29 per cent more than Perpetual's previous closing price on Oct. 15. Challenger Financial rose 5.4 per cent to $4.86, its highest level since January 2008.
Iron-ore venture
Also in Sydney, BHP Billiton slipped 0.8 per cent to $41.32 after abandoning a plan with Rio Tinto Group to create the world's largest iron-ore exporter, following opposition from regulators in Europe and Asia. Rio slipped 0.2 per cent to $83.03.
Crude oil for November delivery declined 1.7 per cent on Oct. 15 in New York to $US81.25 a barrel, the lowest settlement this month. The London Metal Exchange Index of six metals including aluminum and copper slipped 0.4 per cent on Oct. 15, the biggest drop since Oct. 7.
Newcrest Mining, Australia's largest gold producer, slumped 3.1 per cent to $40.78 as gold futures fell for a second day, the first two-day decline since July.
“The stock market will likely trade sideways,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Tokyo-based Daiwa Securities Capital Markets.
Mazda dropped 0.5 per cent to 213 yen in Tokyo after the Nikkei English News report. The shares pared declines after Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group's chairman, Masayuki Oku, said the Japanese company will become Mazda's largest shareholder by the end of the year.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has risen 8.5 per cent this year on speculation growth in corporate profits will weather Europe's debt crisis, Chinese steps to curb property-price inflation and concern about the pace of the US economic rebound. Stocks in the gauge trade at 14.3 times estimated profit on average, compared with 14 times for the S&P 500 and 12.2 times for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.