BLBG; Asian Stocks Swing Between Gains and Losses on Greek Bonds; BHP Declines
Asian stocks swung between gains and losses after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet indicated his willingness to sanction bond rollovers in Greece. Raw-material producers dropped as oil and copper futures fell.
Esprit Holdings Ltd. (330), the Hong Kong-based clothier that counts Europe as its major source of revenue, gained 1.4 percent in Hong Kong. Sony Corp. (6758), Japan’s No. 1 exporter of consumer electronics, lost 1.4 percent in Tokyo after it said it’s investigating two possible new network security breaches. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s largest mining company and Australia’s biggest energy producer, fell 0.6 percent in Sydney.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1 percent to 133.46 as of 1:41 p.m. in Tokyo, having swung between gains and losses twice. About the same number of stocks rose and fell in the gauge. At least $320 billion has been erased from the market value of the gauge since the year’s peak on May 2 amid disappointing economic data, capped by last week’s U.S. jobs report.
“We seem to be seeing a global synchronized slowdown,” Daphne Roth, Singapore-based head of Asian equity research ABN- Amro Private Bank, said on Bloomberg Television. “Asian markets are pretty cheap now. We may wait for a couple months until we can see some direction and that will be a good entry point.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.