By Jonathan Burgos and Clyde Russell Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fluctuated and the yen weakened as expectations of stronger economic data in Europe competed with concerns over U.S. job losses. Wheat rose to a two-year high after Russia banned exports because of drought. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed at 121.62 as of 2 p.m. in Tokyo, having swung between gains and losses five times. The measure has gained 2.1 percent this week. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.1 percent. The yen declined against 15 of its 16 major counterparts and was trading at 113.48 per euro from 133.20 in New York yesterday, near its lowest since Nov. 27. Wheat for December delivery rose 5.5 percent to $8.60 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. Reports today may show German industrial production grew for a fourth month and U.K. manufacturing gained for a second, spurring appetite for higher-yielding assets. U.S. non-farm payrolls probably fell by 65,000 in July, according to the median estimate of 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. More Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment insurance last week, indicating firings remain elevated as the recovery moderated. “Earnings have been strong but there’s a question of sustainability,” said Lee King Fuei, Singapore-based fund manager at Schroders Plc, which held $245 billion of assets as of June. “Going forward, earnings growth is going to be much more difficult as the economic environment becomes sluggish.” Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank 0.4 percent amid concern the yen’s appreciation to near an eight-month high against the dollar will hurt the value of the country’s exports. Hong Kong Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.6 percent. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., Hong Kong’s second-biggest developer by value, gained 3 percent and its Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. affiliate jumped 7.6 on better-than-estimated profit. Hyundai Motor Co., which counts North America as its biggest overseas market, dived 2.7 percent. Fanuc Ltd., the Japanese industrial robot maker that gets 18 percent of sales from North America, lost 1.5 percent. The yen dropped to 86.02 per dollar from 85.82, after rising to 85.33 on Aug. 4, the strongest since Nov. 27. The dollar was at $1.3189 per euro from $1.3189, after falling to $1.3262 on Aug. 3, the weakest level since May 3. “Economies in Europe are doing really well,” said Yoh Nihei, Tokyo-based trading group manager at Tokai Tokyo Securities Co. “Risk appetite may improve, and the bias for the yen would be to weaken.” Europe Data Industrial production in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, rose 0.5 percent in June, after gaining 2.6 percent in May, the Economy Ministry in Berlin will say today according to a Bloomberg survey. U.K. manufacturing may rise 4.1 percent in June, according to the median estimate of 21 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz said in a interview in Sydney yesterday that the U.S. economic recovery is “anemic” and called for a second round of “better-designed” stimulus. Initial jobless claims climbed by 19,000 to 479,000 in the week ended July 31, the most since April and exceeding the highest estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Wheat earlier today touched $8.68 a bushel, the highest level since August 2008. A heat wave in Russia, dry weather in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the European Union, and flooding in Canada has ruined crops and fueled a surge in Chicago wheat prices of as much as 94 percent since June 9. Russia’s drought is now threatening sowing plans for winter grain and damaging such crops as sugar beets, potatoes and corn, the national weather center said this week. To contact the reporters for this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Clyde Russell in Singapore on crussell7@bloomberg.net.

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