Japan Stock Futures Fall on Radiation Concern; Australia Drops March 28, 2011, 7:28 PM EDT
By Anna Kitanaka and Toshiro Hasegawa
March 29 (Bloomberg) — Japanese stock futures fell amid concern the nation is struggling to prevent a meltdown at a nuclear plant after potentially fatal radiation levels were detected nearby. Australian stocks declined.
American depositary receipts of Sharp Corp., a maker of flat-screen panels, lost 1.8 percent from its closing share price in Tokyo. Those of Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s biggest trading company, dropped 2.1 percent. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s No. 1 mining company, slid 0.7 percent in Sydney today after metal prices declined.
“The issue of radioactive contamination from the nuclear- power plant just doesn’t seem to settle down,” said Yasushi Noguchi, a strategist in Tokyo at SMBC Friend Securities Co.
Yen-denominated futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average expiring in June closed at 9,355 in Chicago yesterday, compared with 9,410 in Osaka, Japan. They were bid in the pre-market at 9,350 in Osaka at 8:05 a.m. local time. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index retreated 0.2 percent today. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index slid 0.1 percent in Wellington.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed today. The index slipped 0.3 percent yesterday in New York as Marriott International Inc. led consumer shares lower and concern grew that Japan is failing to contain hazardous materials at a nuclear plant damaged following a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Radiation, Meltdown
Water in a tunnel outside the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan had radiation levels exceeding 1 sievert an hour, a spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said yesterday. A partial meltdown of fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor probably caused a jump in the readings, Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
Exposure to that dose for 30 minutes would trigger nausea and four hours might lead to death within two months, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11 knocked out power at the plant, forcing Tokyo Electric to dump thousands of tons of seawater on the complex as a stopgap cooling measure.
“Even though there are expectations that there will be huge demand for reconstruction following the earthquake disaster, the radioactive pollution could delay the recovery,” SMBC Friend’s Noguchi said.
Metals, Dividends
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 3 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 4.2 percent by the S&P 500 and 0.2 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.4 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.5 times for the S&P 500 and 11.1 times for the Stoxx 600.
The London Metal Exchange Index of prices for six industrial metals including copper and aluminum fell 1.6 percent yesterday, its second consecutive drop. Crude oil for May delivery declined 1.4 percent to $103.98 a barrel in New York, its third day of losses.
In Japan, about 2,500 companies go ex-dividend today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That means investors who buy the stock today won’t be entitled to receive the latest dividends. That will erase about 80 yen from the Nikkei 225, according to SMBC Friend Securities.
–Editors: Nicolas Johnson.
To contact the reporters on this story: Anna Kitanaka in Tokyo at akitanaka@bloomberg.net; Toshiro Hasegawa in Tokyo at thasegawa6@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.
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