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By Adam Haigh
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Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index paring the week’s drop, as the Federal Reserve maintained stimulus and a survey showed China’s manufacturing gained pace. Tokyoshares jumped before a speech by the new Bank of Japan governor.
Nissan Motor Co., an automaker that gets 80 percent of its sales outside Japan, advanced 1.9 percent as the yen weakened against the dollar from its level when markets in Japan shut before yesterday’s holiday. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second largest mining company, climbed 0.9 percent as metals prices increased. A gauge of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong headed for its biggest two-day advance in a month after the preliminary purchasing managers index from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) gained 0.3 percent to 134.84 as of 12:05 p.m. in Tokyo. Gains in Japanese shares led a 3.9 percent rally on the regional gauge this year through yesterday as investors bet the Bank of Japan (8301) will boost monetary policy.
“Asian equities can still rise 15 to 20 percent from here by the end of the year,” Herald Van Der Linde, head of equity strategy for Asia Pacific at HSBC Holding Plc in Hong Kong, said in a phone interview. Stocks “will benefit from improving financial conditions as a result of interventions of major central banks. China continues to be a good value market.”
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index reversed losses, gaining 0.6 percent, after the 51.7 March reading for the so-called flash PMI report. That compares with the 50.4 final reading for February and the 50.8 median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 11 analysts. A level above 50 indicates expansion. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index of mainland Chinese shares traded in Hong Kong advanced 0.4 percent.
Kuroda Speech
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) gained 1.2 percent, heading toward the highest since September 2008. Japan’s new central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda may announce a policy shift today at his first press conference, the Nikkei reported without attribution. Japan’s 10-year bond yield yield touched its lowest since 2003 today.
South Korea’s Kospi Index swung between gains and losses after a computer network shutdown triggered by a cyberattack sent the measure yesterday to its biggest drop in two months.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index slid 0.2 percent with volume 49 percent higher than its 30-day average for the time of day as options contracts on equity indexes expire today. The gauge headed for a fourth straight decline, the longest streak since November, as a minister called for Prime Minister Julia Gillard to hold a leadership ballot.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) were little changed. The S&P 500 yesterday snapped a three-day decline as the Fed said it will maintain stimulus and euro-area leaders weighed options for Cyprus.
FOMC Policy
More than three years into the U.S. economy’s expansion, the central bank led by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is pressing on with open-ended purchases of Treasury and mortgage securities to boost the pace of growth and heal a labor market still scarred by the deepest recession since the Great Depression.
The Federal Open Market Committee, at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Washington, left unchanged its statement that it plans to hold its target interest rate near zero as long asunemployment remains above 6.5 percent and inflation is projected to be no more than 2.5 percent.
Policy makers lowered their expectations for the unemployment rate at the end of the year to a range of 7.3 percent to 7.5 percent, from a previous forecast of 7.4 percent to 7.7 percent. The economy will expand 2.3 percent to 2.8 percent this year, they estimate, compared with their earlier forecast of 2.3 percent to 3 percent growth.
To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net
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