Japanese stocks were beaten down Tuesday on signs the nation’s nuclear crisis may not be resolved in the near term and as car makers fell on concern difficulty in sourcing parts from earthquake- and tsunami-affected suppliers would disrupt production.
Stocks in Sydney advanced as the recent strength in commodity prices and merger-and-acquisition-related activity attracted buyers, although ASX Ltd. skidded after saying that Australia was likely to reject Singapore Exchange Ltd.’s proposed takeover of the bourse operator. Shares of Singapore Exchange, or SGX, jumped.
The Nikkei 225 Index sifted off 103.34 points, or 1.1%, to 9,615.55, after Tokyo Electric Power Co. Monday began dumping radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
The move, which Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said was "unavoidable" due to limited options available to store the water, dissipated hopes the nation’s nuclear crisis could be resolved in the short term.
Shares of Tepco plunged another 18.1% to hit a record low, also pressured after the utility said it would delay releasing its financial results. The stock’s value has crashed more than 80% since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Shares of Toyota Motor Corp. dropped 2.4% after the Associated Press reported the car maker will temporarily shut down all of its North American plants due to short supply of parts. Shares of Honda Motor Co. declined 2.5% and Nissan Motor Co. lost 2.2%.
Shares of rival automobile companies in South Korea advanced amid hopes that they would benefit from the Japanese car industry’s troubles, with Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. each adding 1.2%.
The Sydney market was supported by strength in mining stock Equinox Minerals Ltd., which advanced a further 1.1% on top of the stock’s heady 28.7% surge in the previous session, after China’s Minmetals Resources Ltd. launched a $6.5 billion offer for the company.
Extract Resources Ltd. rose 3.1% after the firm said a long-awaited feasibility study indicated its Husab uranium deposit in Namibia could be developed into one of the largest uranium mines in the world.
Late trading in Sydney, however, was dominated by news that Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan was inclined to reject SGX’s proposed takeover offer for ASX to protect "national interest."
ASX fell 3.3% in the wake of the news, while SGX jumped 4.1% in afternoon trading.
In foreign-exchange markets, the U.S. dollar was firm after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech in Atlanta that the increase in inflation was likely to be "transitory," but the central bank would respond to any sustained rise in inflation.
Bernanke’s remarks were "neutral to the market and within expectations. It is a bit too early for the chairman to show his cards ahead of [the] Fed policy-setting meeting later this month," according to one expert.
The euro fell to $1.4175 from $1.4220 U.S. late Monday in New York, and to 119.42 yen from ¥119.52. The dollar was buying ¥84.24, compared with ¥84.06.
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index regained 14.56 points, or 0.7%, to 2,130.43
Singapore’s Straits Times Index picked up 6.13 points, or 0.2%, to 3,146.75
New Zealand’s NZX 50 added 9.87 points, or 0.3%, to 3,469.38
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 tacked on 13.30 points, or 0.3%, to 4,900.10
Markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai had the day off
