Asian stock markets fluctuated between gains and losses amid growing earnings concerns corporate and the ongoing European crisis. Acer fell 3,3% in Taipei after the second-largest Asian computer maker posted lower-than-expected profits in the third quarter. Kansai Electric Power plunged 7% after the Nikkei newspaper reported that the Japanese utility will not distribute dividends. LG Display, the world's second-largest maker of liquid crystal displays, rose 2,2% after a US court ruled that LG did not infringe on a patent held by the Industrial Technology Research Institute.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index lost 0,1% at 123.03 as of 10:18 am in Tokyo, erasing earlier gains of 0,3 percent. About five stocks fell for every three up. Also yesterday, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the credit rating for Catalonia and four other Spanish regions. "External factors such as the European debt crisis and the US elections are the main risks that the market is facing - explains Angus Gluskie, managing director of White Funds Management in Sydney - Profits are hostage to macroeconomic factors".
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