Asia Stocks Little Changed After Biggest Weekly Gain in 5 Months

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Asia’s benchmark stock gauge was little changed, after posting its biggest weekly advance in more than five months, as gains in pharmaceutical stocks countered declines in utilities.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose and fell less than 0.1 percent before trading at 152.30 as of 9:03 a.m. in Tokyo. The measure jumped 3 percent last week, the steepest weekly gain since October, as Hong Kong equities soared and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average briefly breached 20,000 for the first time since April 2000.

Machinery orders in Japan slipped 0.4 percent in February from the prior month, less than the 2.2 percent decline forecast by economists, a report showed. China is due to report trade figures today.

Source: Bloomberg

Japanese Stocks Swing as Instrument Makers Gain, Utilities Fall

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Japanese stocks swung between gains and losses after the Topix index posted its biggest weekly advance in seven weeks. Precision instrument makers led gains and utilities fell.

The Topix dropped 0.3 percent to 1,584.42 as of 9:05 a.m. in Tokyo, swinging from an advance of 0.2 percent. The gauge climbed 13 percent this year through last week. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.2 percent to 19,866.57, having briefly traded above 20,000 on Friday for the first time in 15 years.

E-mini futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. The underlying gauge climbed 0.5 percent on Friday, extending its advance for the week to 1.7 percent. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Johnson & Johnson and Intel Corp. are among S&P 500 members reporting quarterly results this week.

Bank of Japan meeting minutes were released Monday and showed policy makers expect the economy to continue to recover moderately. Government data showed core machinery orders fell 0.4 percent in February from January, less than the 2.2 percent decline forecast by economists.

Source: Bloomberg