25 Mar 2009
March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Asian utility and healthcare stocks rose, led by companies in Japan that trade tomorrow without their latest dividend rights. Technology stocks fell as Japan's exports slumped and Sanyo Electric Co. forecast a loss.Tokyo Electric Power Co., Japan's largest power company, gained 2.4 percent as investors bought the stock before it went ex-dividend. Commonwealth Bank of Australia climbed 2.9 percent in Sydney as the government offered to guarantee as much as $27 billion of state bonds. Panasonic Corp., which is acquiring Sanyo, slid 4.3 percent in Tokyo as the nation's exports sank by a record last month.
"Japan's exports are key to manufacturing, and this sort of data says demand is just completely shot at the moment," said Chris Hall, who helps oversee about $2 billion at Adelaide, South Australia-based Argo Investments. "The financial system may be getting fixed but the reality is that the real economy is very weak and confidence is low."
Five advanced for every four that declined on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which was little changed at 83.95 at 2:30 p.m. in Tokyo. The gauge rallied 19 percent through yesterday from a five-year low on March 9 amid speculation the worst of the financial crisis is over.
Japan's Topix Index lost 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.5 percent. All other markets rose except New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
New Powers
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. plunged 15 percent in Tokyo after the drugmaker said it will recall a product. Brambles Ltd., which makes wooden pallets for transporting goods, slumped 12 percent in Sydney after customer PepsiCo Inc. changed suppliers. Little Sheep Group Ltd., which runs hot-pot restaurants in China, surged 16 percent in Hong Kong after Yum! Brands Inc. said it will buy a stake.
Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.3 percent today. The gauge fell 2 percent yesterday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for new powers to take over and dismantle failing financial firms.
Among stocks in Japan that are ex-dividend tomorrow, Tokyo Electric rose 2.4 percent to 2,575 yen. Mitsui & Co., Japan's No. 2 trading company, jumped 4.3 percent to 1,062 yen.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Japan's largest drugmaker, rose 2.5 percent to 3,740 yen. More than 2,800 Japanese companies trade without rights to a dividend, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
"Investors hunting for dividends are supporting the market," said Hiroshi Chano, who helps manage the equivalent of $7.3 billion at Yasuda Asset Management Co.
Government Guarantee
Commonwealth Bank, Australia's second-largest by market value, climbed 2.9 percent to A$35.50 in Sydney. Westpac Banking Corp., the biggest by market value, rose 2.5 percent to A$19.62. National Australia Bank Ltd., the country's biggest by assets, added 2.8 percent to A$20.37.
Australian Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan offered to guarantee as much as A$39 billion ($27 billion) in state bonds, the latest government measure to help alleviate the global financial crisis.
The U.S. two days ago announced plans to rid banks of toxic-real estate assets, following government pledges last week to purchase debt from lenders. The new measures, along with reports of strong starts to the year from Barclays Plc and Standard Chartered Plc, helped the MSCI Asia Pacific Index jump 12 percent this month, putting it on course for its biggest monthly advance since March 1999.
The average valuation of companies on the gauge climbed yesterday to 16.1 times reported profit, the highest level since Dec. 28, 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Quarterly Declines
Panasonic, the world's biggest maker of consumer electronics, slumped 4.3 percent to 1,139 yen. Sony Corp. sank 3.3 percent to 2,055 yen. Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, slid 0.9 percent to 2,305 yen.
The Finance Ministry said Japan's overseas shipments plummeted 49.4 percent from a year earlier, the sharpest decline since at least 1980, when the government started to keep comparable data. Economists predicted a 47.6 percent drop.
The deepening global recession has put the MSCI Asia Pacific and the MSCI World Index on course for their sixth- straight quarterly declines. The Asian gauge has lost 6.3 percent since the start of the year, while the MSCI World Index slumped 11 percent.
Little Sheep
Sanyo dropped 1.4 percent to 137 yen. Sanyo, the world's largest producer of rechargeable batteries used in electronics, yesterday forecast a net loss of 90 billion ($921 million) for the year to March 31, because of deteriorating chip and electric-parts operations.
The company predicted in January that it would break even.
Mitsubishi Tanabe plunged 15 percent to 975 yen, its sharpest slump since October 1987. The company said it will recall its genetically modified Medway plasma product after manipulating data from a 2005 study. Credit Suisse Group AG cut its rating on the shares to "underperform."
Brambles slumped 12 percent to A$4.99. The company had lost a contract to supply pallets to a unit of Pepsico Inc., Spokesman David Besier said. Little Sheep rallied 16 percent to HK$3.05. Yum! said it has agreed to buy 20 percent of Inner Mongolia's Little Sheep for $63 million.
