TOKYO: Japan’s Topix index swung between gains and losses as oil-related shares fell while airlines gained after Brent crude dropped below $50 a barrel amid a commodities rout.
Oil explorer Inpex Corp. slipped 2.2 percent. Fishing company Maruha Nichiro Corp. tumbled 6.6 percent after reporting a 44 percent drop in net income. Japan Airlines Co. gained 3 percent. Chemical maker Nippon Soda Co. surged 6.2 percent after boosting its profit forecast.
The Topix was little changed at 1,660.10 as of 12:35 p.m. in Tokyo, swinging between a gain of 0.1 percent and decline of 0.4 percent. About five stocks fell for every four that rose. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 0.1 percent to 20,535.51. Bloomberg gauges of the world’s biggest energy producers and miners tumbled to six-year lows.
“The two negative factors for Japanese stocks today are the concerns over China and cheaper U.S. stocks caused by falling commodity prices,” Toshihiko Matsuno, chief strategist at SMBC Friend Securities Co. in Tokyo said by phone. “Domestic earnings will act as a support.”
More than 90 companies in the Topix will report quarterly results Tuesday. Of the firms that have posted results this season and for which estimates are available, 61 percent exceeded profit expectations, an improvement from the 48 percent that beat forecasts in the previous quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
