Earnings Temper Goldman Sachs Cutting Japan

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s largest bank by market value, led declines among the nation’s biggest lenders after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its forecast for the country’s economic growth. Anhui Conch Cement Co., China’s biggest cement maker, and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. (1114), the Chinese partner of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, climbed more than 5 percent after posting full-year earnings that beat estimates.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was unchanged at 133.61 as of 2:11 p.m. in Tokyo, having declined as much as 0.9 percent earlier. About the same number of stocks advanced as declined in the index. The gauge had its biggest weekly gain since November last week as Japan moved to stabilize nuclear reactors damaged by a March 11 earthquake and as companies from Cnooc Ltd. to Bank of China Ltd.’s earnings surpassed estimates.

“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. “Even though there are expectations that there will be huge demand for reconstruction following the earthquake disaster, the radioactive pollution could delay the recovery.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average swung between gains and losses after Goldman Sachs lowered its growth forecast for Japan’s gross domestic product this year to 0.7 percent from 1.3 percent previously in the aftermath of power cuts and damage from the March 11 earthquake.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.1 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 0.5 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index increased 0.4 percent.