Japanese auto stocks retreated after U.S. consumer spending declined. Shipping company shares surged after cargo fees for commodities advanced, Bloomberg reported.
Honda Motor Co., which gets more than half of its profit from North America, fell 1.2 percent. Shinsei Bank Ltd. sank 4.1 percent on a Yomiuri newspaper report it will reverse its earnings forecast to a loss. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., Japan's No. 2 shipping line, jumped 3.4 percent. NEC Electronics Corp. climbed 1.1 percent after memory prices climbed.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average swung between gains and losses, and was down 8.89, or 0.1 percent to 7,865.09 as of 9:14 a.m. in Tokyo. The broader Topix index was little changed at 777.96.
U.S. consumer spending fell for a record sixth-consecutive month with a 1 percent decline in December, the Commerce Department said yesterday. Incomes declined 0.2 percent for a third month, the longest stretch since January 1954.
The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, climbed for a 10th day yesterday, gaining 2.7 percent. China, the world's biggest market for steelmaking raw materials, held national holidays all last week. Steel manufacturing accounts for almost half of all dry-bulk cargo hauled by sea, according to shipping line Golden Ocean Ltd.
Average prices of the benchmark dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, jumped 27 percent yesterday, the most since November 2007, according to Dramexchange Technology Inc., Asia's largest spot market for the chips. Germany-based Qimonda AG's insolvency filing last month raised expectations a glut will ease.