Asian Stocks Fluctuate as Asset Managers Advance on KKR's Perpetual Offer

Asian stocks fluctuated after completing a seventh weekly advance last week, as Australian asset managers climbed following a private-equity bid for Perpetual Ltd., countering declines among commodity producers.

Perpetual jumped 22 percent in Sydney after Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. offered as much as A$1.75 billion ($1.73 billion) for the company. Challenger Financial Services Group Ltd. surged 5.4 percent. BHP Billiton Ltd. sank 0.8 percent after abandoning plans to create the world’s largest iron-ore exporter, and as commodity prices sank. Mazda Motor Corp. dropped 0.5 percent in Tokyo after Nikkei English News reported Ford Motor Co. may lower its stake in the company.

“Investors are in a wait-and-see mood as they look to see what’s coming in the way of policy stimulus in the U.S. and elsewhere,” said Stephen Halmarick, who helps manage about $135 billion as head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management in Sydney. “The data is mixed at the moment, and that’s why we’re seeing a pretty slow pace today.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3 percent to 131.69 as of 11:24 a.m. in Tokyo today after reaching its highest level since July 2008 last week. About four stocks rose for every three that fell on the nearly 1,000-member gauge, which advanced as much as 0.2 percent earlier today. The measure completed its seventh weekly advance last week, the longest winning streak since 2006.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.5 percent today. South Korea’s Kospi Index fell 1 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 0.9 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index advanced 0.2 percent in Wellington.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1 percent as HSBC Holdings Plc led banks lower.

Technology Shares

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated 0.3 percent. The U.S. index rose 0.2 percent on Oct. 15 in New York as companies such as Google Inc. fueled a rally in technology shares that helped offset a decline in bank shares and an unexpected drop in consumer confidence.

Perpetual soared 22 percent to A$37.71 in Sydney. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. offered to buy the Australian asset manager to tap expanding wealth in one of the world’s fastest growing developed economies.

The offer from the New York-based private-equity firm is priced between A$38 and A$40 per share, Perpetual said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange today, 29 percent more than Perpetual’s previous closing price on Oct. 15. Challenger Financial rose 5.4 percent to A$4.86, its highest level since January 2008.

Iron-Ore Venture

Also in Sydney, BHP Billiton slipped 0.8 percent to A$41.32 after abandoning a plan with Rio Tinto Group to create the world’s largest iron-ore exporter, following opposition from regulators in Europe and Asia. Rio slipped 0.2 percent to A$83.03.

Crude oil for November delivery declined 1.7 percent on Oct. 15 in New York to $81.25 a barrel, the lowest settlement this month. The London Metal Exchange Index of six metals including aluminum and copper slipped 0.4 percent on Oct. 15, the biggest drop since Oct. 7.

Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia’s largest gold producer, slumped 3.1 percent to A$40.78 as gold futures fell for a second day, the first two-day decline since July.

“The stock market will likely trade sideways,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Tokyo-based Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co.

Mazda dropped 0.5 percent to 213 yen in Tokyo after the Nikkei English News report. The shares pared declines after Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.’s chairman, Masayuki Oku, said the Japanese company will become Mazda’s largest shareholder by the end of the year.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has risen 8.5 percent this year on speculation growth in corporate profits will weather Europe’s debt crisis, Chinese steps to curb property-price inflation and concern about the pace of the U.S. economic rebound. Stocks in the gauge trade at 14.3 times estimated profit on average, compared with 14 times for the S&P 500 and 12.2 times for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.