By -
Dec 4, 2012
Asian stocks swung between gains and
losses as President Barack Obama held his ground on raising tax
rates for the highest-income Americans, bringing the U.S. budget
talks into a stalemate. Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. advanced
as HSBC Holdings Plc agreed to sell its stake.
Honda Motor Co. (7267), a Japanese carmaker that gets about 44 percent of sales from North America, declined 1 percent. Western Areas NL sank 4.9 percent in Sydney after the nickel sulphide producer raised A$50 million ($52.4 million) selling shares at a discount. Ping An rose 3.8 percent in Hong Kong after HSBC agreed to sell its entire 15.6 percent stake in China’s second- largest insurer to Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group Co. for $9.4 billion.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) added 0.2 percent to 125.03 as of 11:32 a.m. in Tokyo, erasing losses of as much as 0.3 percent. Almost two shares rose for each that fell on the gauge. The measure advanced last month amid signs China’s economic slowdown may be ending and optimism U.S. lawmakers would agree on a budget deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, which would result in more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts taking effect next month.
“The fiscal cliff has the potential to frighten the market until the end of the year, but I don’t think it’ll be substantially surprising,” said Peter Esho, chief market strategist at City Index Ltd., a provider of equities, bonds and currency trading in Sydney. “The market’s consolidating after a good run.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
Honda Motor Co. (7267), a Japanese carmaker that gets about 44 percent of sales from North America, declined 1 percent. Western Areas NL sank 4.9 percent in Sydney after the nickel sulphide producer raised A$50 million ($52.4 million) selling shares at a discount. Ping An rose 3.8 percent in Hong Kong after HSBC agreed to sell its entire 15.6 percent stake in China’s second- largest insurer to Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group Co. for $9.4 billion.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) added 0.2 percent to 125.03 as of 11:32 a.m. in Tokyo, erasing losses of as much as 0.3 percent. Almost two shares rose for each that fell on the gauge. The measure advanced last month amid signs China’s economic slowdown may be ending and optimism U.S. lawmakers would agree on a budget deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, which would result in more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts taking effect next month.
“The fiscal cliff has the potential to frighten the market until the end of the year, but I don’t think it’ll be substantially surprising,” said Peter Esho, chief market strategist at City Index Ltd., a provider of equities, bonds and currency trading in Sydney. “The market’s consolidating after a good run.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
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