Asian Stocks: Japan Rises, Led by Toyota; Australia, N.Z. Drop
By Laura Lai
Tokyo, Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks rose, led by Toyota Motor Corp. and Advantest Corp. after investors judged the Nikkei 225 stock average's 5 percent decline in the past three weeks as overdone.
The Nikkei rose 176.09, or 1.1 percent, to 16,216.32. The broad Topix index gained 0.7 percent to 1480.77. The Nikkei has fallen below its average for the past 50 days and 200 days from earlier this month, while the Topix slipped below its 50-day moving average since late August. Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. also gained on a report the chemical company will build a new plant to double its production capacity.
``Some domestic investors are now using technical analysis'' which may show the market has been oversold ``as a trading tool,'' said Stephen Patrick, a sales trader at Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities (Japan) Ltd. ``They're also selectively buying stocks.''
In other markets, Australia's ASX200 Index fell 0.2 percent as Broken Hill Proprietary Co. dropped amid sliding oil prices. New Zealand's Top 40 Index fell 0.3 percent, led by Telecom Corp., on concern the nation's dominant phone company won't see benefits from its plan to expand in Australia's competitive phone market any time soon.
Toyota Motor, Japan's biggest automaker, rose 0.7 percent to 4,300 yen, after dropping 8.4 percent in the last six days until yesterday. Advantest, the world's biggest maker of equipment used to test computer memory chips, added 1.6 percent to 19,620 yen. It fell 12 percent in the past six days.
Shin-Etsu Chemical gained 3.4 percent to 5,170 yen, after the Nihon Keizai newspaper said the company will spend 30 billion yen to build a new plant. The world's biggest polyvinyl chloride maker expects demand for optic fibers to continue rising.
Other gainers included Tokyo Electric Power Co. Japan's biggest utility added 1.1 percent to 2,380 yen after it raised its first half group profit forecast by 40 percent as the hot summer boosted demand for electricity to power air conditioners.
Tepco yesterday said its group net income for the six months through September will probably rise to 212 billion yen ($1.9 billion), a 40 percent increase from its previous forecast.
Australia
Australia's ASX200 Index fell 4.70 points to 3319.30. BHP, the largest Australian-based oil company, fell 1.1 percent to A$20.51. Crude oil fell more than 2 percent after President Bill Clinton said U.S. emergency reserves of heating oil would be filled next month, easing concern low inventories now would lead to shortages this winter.
News Corp., the world's fifth largest media company, rose 2.1 percent to A$24.60. Gary Ginsberg, the company's investor relations president, told fund managers at a Credit Suisse First Boston sponsored-lunch yesterday that the promotional tour for the initial public offering of its satellite company Sky Global Networks Inc. will start on Oct. 14.
``We do believe that the platform that is being established provides a powerful opportunity to substantially expand the scope of the business over time,'' Credit Suisse First Boston analysts wrote in a note to investors. ``This provides the opportunity for the long-term economies of scale to be substantially greater than we are currently forecasting.''
New Zealand
New Zealand's Top 40 Index fell 5.96 points to 2081.96. Telecom fell 1.5 percent to NZ$6.45, hovering 3 percent above the lowest since March 1997 reached Thursday last week.
``Investors are still very cautious because the stock has reached lows in the past few weeks,'' said Grant Williamson, operating partner with broker Hamilton, Hindin, Greene. Still, some ``investors are starting to look at the stock,'' suggesting it won't fall much further.
Telecom has offered to buy the 20 percent of AAPT Ltd., Australia's No. 4 phone company, that it doesn't already own, giving it access to the cash flow from that business and cementing its plans to expand in the Australian market, which is seven times bigger than its home market.
Fletcher Challenge Ltd.'s energy division gained 0.9 percent to NZ$8.86 after Capstone Turbine Corp. rose 12.2 percent. Fletcher owns 11 percent of Capstone, a U.S. generator-maker, worth $6.75 billion.
Investors are also waiting for New Zealand's antitrust authority to decide whether Royal Dutch/Shell Group should be allowed to buy Fletcher Energy. The commission, which has already given itself one extension, Monday said it might not decide on the potential sale of the nation's largest oil and gas producer until Sept. 29.
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