Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark gauge on course for its biggest increase in more than six weeks, as investors weighed earnings and after U.S. equity indexes climbed to records.
Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s second-biggest carmaker, jumped 4.8 percent after full-year profit beat estimates and the company forecast higher dividends. PanAust Ltd., an Australian copper producer, soared 34 percent on a takeover bid from Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co. PetroChina Co. rose to its highest level this year after announcing the sale of pipeline assets valued at $6.3 billion.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1 percent to 139.12 as of 10:40 a.m. in Tokyo, heading for the steepest advance since March 26, as all of its 10 industry groups rose. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is due to speak May 15 after tempering concern last week that an improving economy will drive interest rates higher.
“Rates are locked in a low level and we don’t have any scares in terms of inflation and any factor that’s going to require the Fed to taper a lot quicker than they stated,” said Tim Schroeders, a portfolio manager who helps oversee $1 billion in equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “The market is comfortable with that at this stage.”
Japan’s Topix (TPX) index jumped 1.6 percent and South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.8 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.8 percent, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index added 0.6 percent. Taiwan’s Taiex Index rose 0.7 percent. Markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand andBangladesh are closed for a holiday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 0.5 percent after jumping the most in seven weeks yesterday on optimism state reforms will boost equity markets. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies added 0.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1 percent. Data on China retail sales and industrial output are due today.
China’s broadest measure of new credit fell last month as authorities extended their campaign to tame financial dangers even as construction and manufacturing data point to risks that the economy’s slowdown will worsen. Aggregate financing was 1.55 trillion yuan ($249 billion) in April, the People’s Bank of China said yesterday in Beijing, compared with 2.07 trillion yuan in March.
Among companies on the Asian gauge that reported quarterly results since April 1 and for which Bloomberg had estimates, 53 percent beat earnings expectations as of yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
