Asian Stocks Halt Six-Day Losing Streak as Aussie Gains

REF : Bloomberg

"April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks snapped the longest losing streak in eight months, U.S. equity-index futures gained and copper rose for a second day as Citigroup Inc. recommended buying industrial shares. The Australian dollar strengthened on data showing faster-than-estimated job growth in the country.


The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.3 percent as of 1:20 p.m. in Tokyo, rising for the first time in seven days. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rallied 0.7 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.3 percent. The Australian dollar increased 0.7 percent to a one-week high. Copper rose 0.6 percent to lead gains in metals.

Italy will auction bonds today as rising borrowing costs in Europe reflect concern the debt crisis is worsening. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen said low U.S. interest rates are warranted as the job market remains weak. Australian payrolls increased by 44,000 in March, government data showed, beating the estimate for a gain of 6,500 from a Bloomberg survey of economists.

“Asia still looks really cheap,” Chong Yoon-Chou, the Singapore-based investment director at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia Ltd., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The company oversees about $295 billion. “If you’re seeing it through the next year or two years, there are still good valuations.”

Earnings Season

The earnings season in the U.S. is beginning with Google Inc. scheduled to release results after the close of trading today. Fast Retailing Co., Asia’s biggest clothing retailer, and Lawson Inc., Japan’s second-largest convenience-store chain, are also set to report results.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.4 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.6 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index slid 1 percent as trading resumed after a holiday.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4 percent. China may cut interest rates in the “immediate future” as inflation isn’t too high to prevent further easing of monetary policy, Michael Kurtz, the chief Asian equity strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc., wrote in a report dated yesterday.

Industrial stocks in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.6 percent for the second-biggest advance among 10 industries. Fanuc Corp., a maker of robots used in factories, climbed 1.4 percent in Tokyo. Citigroup said the industry has “solid” earnings and cash levels are at a record high, according to a research report dated yesterday.

Copper, Yen

Copper rose as much as 0.7 percent. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said yesterday deliveries of passenger cars climbed 4.5 percent to 1.4 million units last month. Sales were projected to increase 3.9 percent, according to the average estimate of a Bloomberg News survey of eight analysts. Oil traded near the highest price in a week in New York, while natural gas futures remained below $2 per million British thermal units.

The yen extended declines to a second day, falling against all of its 16 major counterparts, after Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said he will continue pursuing monetary easing. The Japanese currency sank 0.2 percent to 106.23 per euro.

The yen has weakened 7.6 percent in the past three months, the biggest decline among the 10 currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar is the second-worst performer with a 2 percent drop during the period. "

To contact the reporters on this story: Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net ; Rishaad Salamat in Hong Kong at rishaad@bloomberg.net
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Steven Morris CA (SA)

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