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Bangkok - Asian stocks were mostly lower Monday as Japan's struggle to stabilize a leaking nuclear reactor dragged on for a third week and a fierce rebellion in Opec-member Libya against leader Moammar Gadhafi fanned pessimism.
Oil prices hovered above $105 a barrel in Asia as Libyan rebels took control of a key port town and said they would restart crude exports within weeks. In currencies, the dollar strengthened against the yen and the euro.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1% to 9 441.13, weighed down by the failure to regain control of Japan's stricken nuclear complex. The Fukushima Dai-ichi complex has been leaking radiation since a mammoth earthquake and tsunami on March 11 decimated the country's northeastern coast.
Shares of Tokyo Electric Power Co, which operates the plant, have been in a tailspin since the disaster. On Monday, Tepco shares lost 17.6%.
Japan's powerhouse auto industry still faces an uphill battle - with electricity supplies intermittent and key parts suppliers knocked out by the quake. Goldman Sachs estimated the shutdowns are costing the Japan automakers $200m a day.
Shares in the major car makers have been volatile as they try to restore production to pre-quake levels. Monday was bargain-hunting day, Nissan jumping 3.7% and Honda up 1.2%. Toyota, the world's largest automaker, rose 0.3%, as some operations were due to resume.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.7% to 22 990.82, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.3% to 4 730.80. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, and Indonesia were also lower, while those in Shanghai and New Zealand rose.
South Korea's Kospi index was down 0.1% to 2 051.20, as business sentiment drooped. The monthly Business Survey Index, a survey of the 600 largest businesses, came in at 99.3, a sharp drop from 113.5 of just a month ago, Yonhap news agency said. Readings under 100 mean pessimists outnumber optimists.
The military conflict in Libya, which brought oil production in the North African country to a standstill, was also weighing on sentiment. The Korea International Trade Association said last week that the country could lose more than $800m in exports to Libya alone this year if the war continues until the end of the year.
Analysts said traders were refraining from major moves as destabilizing global events played out - violent protests across the Arab world that threaten oil shipments; a radiation leak at a Japanese nuclear plant that continues to contaminate food, air and water; and political chaos in debt-stressed Portugal.
Some analysts, meanwhile, looked askance at an announcement that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke would hold press conferences four times a year to give the public a better understanding of how and why the US central bank acts.
Analysts at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research said that while the news was an "exciting development for central bank watchers," such press events were "likely to be a major source of volatility for financial markets."
Benchmark crude for May delivery was down 34c at $105.06 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In currencies, the dollar rose to ¥81.77 from ¥81.41 on Friday. The euro fell to $1.4054 from $1.4073.
