Asian Stocks Swing Between Gains and Losses as Oil, Copper Prices Decline

Asian stocks swung between gains and losses as mining companies declined after oil and copper prices dropped in New York and reports showed U.S. jobless claims fell even as manufacturing growth slowed.

BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), Australia’s No. 1 oil producer and the world’s biggest mining company, dropped 1.5 percent. Tokyo Electric Power Co. slumped 6.2 percent after the Yomiuri newspaper reported the owner of the nuclear reactor crippled by the March earthquake may post a record loss today. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. gained 1.8 percent in Seoul after Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. ordered a third ultra-deepwater drillship from the world’s largest shipbuilder.

“Expectations for the U.S. economic outlook are slightly decreasing and there’s a mood investors are wary of buying stocks,” said Norikazu Kitta, a strategist at Tokyo-based Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. “However, the stable yen and gains in the U.S. stocks are positive for the market.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.1 percent to 134.82 as of 9:50 a.m. in Tokyo, after swinging between gains and losses at least five times. About three stocks advanced for every two that fell in the gauge, which is heading for its third weekly decline this week.

The regional benchmark index last week recorded its second straight weekly drop amid concern that China’s anti-inflation policies may slow global economic growth and as the Fed prepares to end a $600 billion asset-purchase program known as quantitative easing.

Nikkei, Kospi

Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average gained 0.3 percent, erasing earlier losses and South Korea’s Kospi Index was little changed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.5 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed today. In New York, the index advanced 0.2 percent to 1,343.60 yesterday after a government report showing a bigger- than-forecast drop in jobless claims bolstered optimism about the economic recovery. ] Separate figures showed manufacturing growth in the Philadelphia region unexpectedly eased in May to the slowest pace in seven months, a sign the U.S. economy may get less of a boost from the industry that led it out of its last recession.