By Patrick Rial and Masaki Kondo
July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks dropped on concern share sales will dilute the holdings of equity investors and as falling commodities prices drove resource producers lower.
Orix Corp., Japan’s No. 1 non-bank lender, fell 4.8 percent after the Nikkei newspaper said it will sell stock, while Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. lost 0.5 percent on its plan to raise $1.46 billion by selling shares. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, declined 2.1 percent, following a drop in oil, copper and nickel. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. jumped 3 percent as Chinese manufacturing rose a fourth month.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.2 percent to 102.96 as of 3:06 p.m. in Tokyo, after swinging between gains and losses. The measure rallied 15 percent in the first half of 2009, the best start to a year since 1999 and outpacing gains by gauges in Europe and the United States.
“I’m expecting to see more companies sell shares,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Tokyo-based Daiwa Asset Management, which oversees the equivalent of $90 billion. “China’s economy is on its feet again, thanks to government stimulus measures.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average retreated 0.2 percent to 9,939.93. The Tankan index of business confidence came in below economist forecasts, yet still showed the first improvement in sentiment in more than two years. The gauge of large manufacturers rose to minus 48 in June from minus 58 in March, the Bank of Japan said today. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had predicted minus 43.
To contact the reporters for this story: Patrick Rial in Tokyo at prial@bloomberg.net; Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net.
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