By Lynn Thomasson - Mar 20, 2012 10:00 AM GMT+0700
Asian shares dropped after China increased gasoline and diesel prices for the second time in less than six weeks. Gold fell and oil snapped two days of gains in New York amid speculation supplies are rising.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Excluding Japan Index (MXAPJ) lost 0.3 percent as of 11:12 a.m. in Tokyo. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.8 percent, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures were little changed. Australian bond yields rose while crude dropped 0.6 percent to $107.50 a barrel. Gold for immediate delivery slid 0.4 percent to $1,658.40 an ounce.
“Higher energy costs and falling profits may worry investors that the economy is slowing even further,” said Dai Ming, a fund manager at Shanghai Kingsun Investment Management & Consulting Co. in Shanghai.
Signs the U.S. economy is improving don’t dispel risks that include rising gasoline prices and a weak housing market, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said yesterday. China’s retail gasoline prices will increase as much as 6.6 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Reports later today may show U.S. housing starts gained in February and U.K. inflation slowed for a fifth month, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Transurban Group (TCL), Australia’s biggest operator of toll roads, dropped 2.6 percent in Sydney trading after the company’s biggest shareholder sold a 7.9 percent stake at a discount. Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. (16), a Hong Kong property developer, lost 1.6 percent after saying an executive director was arrested as part of an investigation into alleged bribery.
Refiners Rally
SK Innovation Co., South Korea’s largest oil refiner, advanced 2 percent. Korea Gas Corp. and Hong Kong and China Gas Co. rose at least 2.8 percent. Gasoline advanced to a 10-month high in New York yesterday on speculation that refinery closures will lower supply as peak driving season approaches.
Oil dropped for the first time in three days. U.S. inventories climbed to the highest level in six months last week as processors idled units and imports from Canada increased, according to a Bloomberg News survey before a government report tomorrow.
U.S. housing starts probably climbed to a 700,000 annual rate last month from a 699,000 pace in January, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
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