By Shani Raja and Satoshi Kawano March 10 (Bloomberg) — Asian stocks fluctuated as shipping lines declined after a measure of cargo-transport-rates fell, while Australia’s largest telephone company rose on speculation it will avoid a forced break-up. STX Pan Ocean Co., South Korea’s largest bulk-shipping line, dropped 1.9 percent in Seoul, and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., Japan’s third-largest line, fell 1.7 percent in Tokyo after shipping rates fell for the first time in almost two weeks. BHP Billiton Ltd. , Australia’s largest oil producer, lost 0.9 percent as crude oil futures declined for a second day. Telstra Corp. climbed 2.1 percent in Sydney after a newspaper said Australia’s government may fail to force it to split. “We don’t have a strong catalyst, so I’m expecting stocks to drift without a clear direction today,” said Hiroichi Nishi , an equities manager at Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. in Tokyo. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed at 122.73 as of 10:26 a.m. in Tokyo, with about as many stocks advancing as declining. The index has risen 74 percent since March 9 last year, when it sank to its lowest level since the September 2008 bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average was little changed at 10,551.54, and no major benchmark in the Asia-Pacific region moved more than 0.6 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has risen in the past year as governments worldwide bolstered their economies through increased spending. Shares in the gauge trade at 18.6 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 15 times for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in the U.S. and 13 times for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. To contact the reporter for this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net ; Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo skawano1@bloomberg.net .
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Asian Stocks Fluctuate as Oil Price, Shipping Rates Drop; Telstra Advances
