(Bloomberg, Sept 19, 2006) -- Asian energy stocks gained, led by Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and PetroChina Co., after prices of crude oil rose for a third day.

Shares of companies like ``Woodside are still good value because we're eventually going to see another round of analyst upgrades in the next few months if commodities prices stay close to these levels,'' said Steven Marsh, who manages about $450 million at Trust Co. of Australia Ltd. in Sydney.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia Pacific Index was little changed at 127.51 at 3:10 p.m. in Tokyo, after earlier jumping as much as 0.9 percent. A gauge of energy companies on the index climbed 0.4 percent, the biggest advance among the regional measure's 10 industry groups.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.1 percent to 15,874.28 in Japan. An advance of as much as 1.4 percent was trimmed after Russia's government canceled a permit for the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas venture led by Royal Dutch Shell Pls and in which Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co. have a stake.

Benchmarks also fell in Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. China's stock benchmarks advanced, as foreign-currency B-shares climbed for a second day on speculation they will be merged with the more liquid yuan-denominated A shares.

Source:Bloomberg
tag:energy