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Asian stocks rose for a third day, with the regional benchmark index extending an 18-month high, amid signs the global economy is recovering.
South Korea’s Kospi Index led benchmark gauges higher after Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong Soo said the world economic outlook is improving. Tokyo Electric Power Co. led Japanese utilities higher. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, fell 1.1 percent in Sydney after reporting a 58 percent drop in first-half profit. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer, added 3 percent after full- year profit almost doubled.
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Joseph Tanious, a New York-based global market strategist for JPMorgan Funds, talks about the outlook for global stocks and investment strategy. He speaks with Deirdre Bolton, Dominic Chu and Alix Steel on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Tajuddin Atan, chief executive officer of Bursa Malaysia Bhd., talks with Bloomberg's Matthew Winkler in Kuala Lumpur about the exchange's expansion plans and focus on turning domestic companies into regional champions. Bursa Malaysia, which operates Southeast Asia's third-largest stock market, is seeking to lure investors to a nation that was the world's fifth-largest destination for initial public offerings last year. (Source: Bloomberg)
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.9 percent to 135.30 as of 2:02 p.m. in Tokyo after closing yesterday at the highest level since August 2011. Almost three stocks climbed for each that fell. The gauge is headed for a third-day of gains, the longest winning streak since Jan. 4.
“In general, the big picture is much better than last year,” saidGrace Tam, Hong Kong-based global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management Ltd., which oversees about $1.3 trillion globally. “In the medium term, we are still pretty positive on equities because monetary policies are pretty easy around the world.”
Japan Leads Rally
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 9.9 percent from the start of November through yesterday, led by Japanese shares as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to beat deflation and pressed the central bank to ease monetary policy. Asia’s benchmark traded at 14.9 times estimated earnings as of yesterday compared with 13.8 for the Standard & Poor’s 500and 12.5 for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.8 percent even after the government reported a record trade deficit in January. South Korea’s Kospi Index added 1.8 percent as Kim said the improving world economy boosts the odds of the nation exceeding this year’s growth forecast.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.3 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index fell 0.7 percent as Fletcher Building Ltd., the heaviest weighted stock on the gauge, dropped 4.8 percent to NZ$8.87 in Wellington after reaffirming its fiscal- year operating earnings guidance.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.3 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.1 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex Index added 0.8 percent and Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.2 percent.
U.S. Futures
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.1 percent today. The gauge added 0.7 percent to close at the highest level since 2007 in New York yesterday on optimism over deal making and data showing rising investor confidence in Germany.
U.S. office supply retailers Office Depot Inc. and OfficeMax Inc. have discussed a merger and may announce a deal as early as this week, a person familiar with the matter said. German investor confidence jumped more than economists forecast in February to the highest level in almost three years, the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said yesterday.
“We will continue to rally until markets find something that spooks them,” said Donald Williams, Sydney-based chief investment officer at Platypus Asset Management Ltd., which manages about $1 billion. “Data in Europe -- even if you are pessimistic -- you’d have to conceive that they are stabilizing and there are points of improvement. There’s nothing you can point to as negative.”
South Korea’s Kospi index headed for a six-day rally, the longest since October 2011. Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s biggest exporter of consumer electronics, rose 2.9 percent to 1.535 million won. Samsung is the heaviest weighted stock on the measure.
Japanese Utilities
Japanese utilities rallied after the Nikkei newspaper reported Prime Minister Abe will inform U.S. President Barack Obama during their Feb. 22 meeting that Japan will reconsider the previous government’s plan to stop all the nuclear power plants.
Tokyo Electric gained 6.6 percent to 209 yen, the second- biggest gainer on the MXAP Asia Pacific Index. Shikoku Electric Power Co. surged 6.4 percent to 1,120 yen as it expects to restart a reactor at its nuclear plant in western Japan in July. Separately, Shikoku Electric plans to raise household rates by about 11 percent, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Of the 342 companies on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index that have reported quarterly earnings and for which Bloomberg has estimates, 51 percent exceeded profit expectations. That compares with 71 percent of S&P 500 companies that topped profit forecasts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
BHP Chief
BHP Billiton slid 1.1 percent to A$38.58 after reporting a 58 percent decline in first-half profit. It named copper unit head Andrew Mackenzie as chief executive officer to succeed Marius Kloppers, who failed to deliver on about $200 billion of potential takeovers.
Woodside Petroleum added 3 percent to A$39.03 after saying its net income rose to a record $2.98 billion in the 12 months ended Dec. 31 from $1.51 billion a year earlier. The increase was driven by the A$15 billion ($15.5 billion) Pluto liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia.
Among other stocks that gained, PetroChina Co., Asia’s biggest oil producer, rose 2.5 percent to HK$10.70 after UBS AG raised the stock’s rating to buy.
To contact the reporter on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
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