Japan’s stocks fluctuated as asset sales and purchases boosted Hitachi Ltd. and Terumo Corp., while shipping lines declined after Nippon Yusen K.K. said it may slow its container ships to save fuel. Hitachi, an electronics maker, gained 2 percent after agreeing to sell its hard disk-drive business to Western Digital Corp. for about $4.3 billion. Terumo, Japan’s No. 1 medical- device maker, climbed 3 percent after it agreed to buy Gambro AB’s CaridianBCT unit. Shipping companies declined after Nippon Yusen K.K., Japan’s largest shipping line, said it may slow transport speeds by 10 percent in order to cut costs. The Topix index of 1,666 companies fell 0.1 percent to 940.75 as of 1:45 p.m. in Tokyo, after earlier gaining as much as 0.4 percent. The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 0.3 percent to 10,534.69 following a 1.8 percent slide yesterday as fighting intensified in Libya and oil prices surged, heightening concern higher fuel prices will impede the economic recovery. “The market is scatter-shot,” said Koichi Kurose, chief strategist in Tokyo at Resona Bank Ltd., which oversees the equivalent of $57 billion in assets. “When there’s a general feeling of anxiety or a sense that you’ve got to be on guard about political events or other surprises, investors make short- term trades.” Oil prices fell for the first time in three days, easing concern that higher energy costs will impede the economic recovery. Crude for April delivery fell as much as 97 cents to $104.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange today after al-Jazeera reported Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi offered to relinquish power. A rebel council rejected the offer, the TV channel said. Hitachi, Terumo Deals Hitachi advanced 2 percent to 515 yen, the most active stock by value in Japan, after Western Digital agreed to buy Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, a wholly-owned Hitachi unit, for about $4.3 billion. Terumo jumped 3 percent to 4,630 yen after agreeing to purchase Gambro’s CaridianBCT unit for $2.63 billion to become the world’s biggest maker of blood-transfusion equipment. Shinko Electric Industries Co., a maker of semiconductor packages, sank 3.9 percent to 938 yen after Barclays Plc cut its rating on the stock to “underweight” from “equal-weight.” TDK Corp., the world’s biggest maker of magnetic heads for disk drives, climbed 0.9 percent to 5,560 yen after Barclays raised its share-price forecast to 5,700 yen from 5,300 yen. The Topix rose 4.8 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 4.2 percent by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and 1.8 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Shares in the Topix were valued at 15.8 times estimated earnings on average as of the last close, compared with 13.6 times for the S&P 500 and 11.2 times for the Stoxx 600. Shipping lines had the biggest drop among the Topix’s 33 industry groups after Nippon Yusen said it may slow its transport speed. The company lost 2 percent to 348 yen, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., operator of the world’s largest merchant fleet, slid 1.9 percent to 530 yen. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd, Japan’s third-biggest shipping line, declined 2.5 percent to 347 yen. To contact the reporter on this story: Norie Kuboyama in Tokyo at nkuboyama@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.

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