Asian Stocks Climb to Record on U.S. Rates Optimism; Sony Gains 

Asian Stocks Climb to Record on U.S. Rates Optimism; Sony Gains

Asian Stocks Climb to Record on U.S. Rates Optimism; Sony Gains

May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks climbed to a record after a U.S. jobs report eased concern that the Federal Reserve will keep raising borrowing costs in the region's biggest export market. Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. paced the gain.

``The U.S. economy looks more stable and I wouldn't be surprised if the Fed takes a pause from increasing rates,'' said Atsushi Osa, who helps oversee $4.1 billion at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. ``That prospect boosted speculation overseas sales at exporters will keep increasing.''

Commodity suppliers including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group gained after the price of copper climbed to an all-time high.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index jumped 1.6 percent to 143.05 at 2:07 p.m. in Tokyo, set for the highest close in the benchmark's 19-year history. All 10 industry groups rose.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.7 percent to 17,279.84 as trading resumed after a three-day holiday. Property developers jumped after a Bank of Japan report showed land prices rose for the first time in 15 years.

Share indexes across the region rose, with the Philippine Stock Exchange Index having the biggest gain, up 4.8 percent.

The U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2 percent on May 5 after a government report showed employers added fewer jobs in April than economists expected, prompting speculation the Fed will pause in raising its target rate after an increase on May 10. Futures contracts suggest traders see a 36 percent chance of a rate rise to 5.25 percent in June, down from 48 percent. The rate now stands at 4.75 percent.

Rates Optimism

Sony, maker of the PSP portable game console and Vaio computers, added 2.5 percent to 5,690 yen. Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest exporter, gained 1.6 percent to 655,000 won. The company accounts for about 10 percent of the nation's exports.

Gains among some exporters were limited after Asian currencies rose against the dollar, raising concern the value of companies' dollar-denominated sales will decline. The yen rose to a seven-month high.

Nissan Motor Co., Japan's second-largest automaker, climbed 2.1 percent to 1,538 yen. The company gets more than half of its sales from overseas. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, rose 3.4 percent to 84,700 won. Three out of every four cars Hyundai made last year were sold abroad.

AU Optronics Corp., Taiwan's largest maker of flat-panel displays used in computers, gained 1.1 percent to NT$55. Hong Kong's Li & Fung Ltd., a supplier to U.S. retailers such as Wal- Mart Stores Inc., added 1.3 percent to HK$19.70.

`Real Value'

Among commodity producers, BHP, the world's biggest mining company, advanced 3.3 percent to A$31.31. Rio Tinto, the third biggest, gained 3.2 percent to A$85.43. Dowa Mining Co., which produces copper, zinc and gold, rose 4.6 percent to 1,377 yen.

Korea Zinc Co., the world's biggest zinc smelter by production, rose 2.9 percent to 93,600 won. Jiangxi Copper Co., China's largest listed copper producer, jumped 7.4 percent to HK$9.45 in Hong Kong.

Copper prices advanced to a record in Shanghai today, while gold ended last week in New York at a more than 25-year high.

Mining shares' ``real value is anybody's guess given the vast potential of Chinese demand, so they're moving in line with commodities prices for the time being,'' said Lucinda Chan, head of Asian business at Macquarie Equities Ltd. in Sydney.

Land-Price Rebound

Real-estate developers and banks in Japan led gains in the MSCI's measure of financial shares after a central bank report showed average land prices in 2005 climbed 1.4 percent from a year earlier. The calculations were based on an earlier land ministry report. The last time land prices rose was in 1990, when they jumped 6.8 percent.

Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan's biggest property developer by sales, advanced 6.9 percent to 2,695 yen. Mitsubishi Estate Co., the biggest by market value, gained 3.6 percent to 2,575 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., the world's largest bank by assets, rose 2.2 percent to 1.84 million yen.

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., the world's largest telephone company, jumped 4.5 percent to 533,000 yen. The company will boost its dividend for the year started April 1, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported.

Philippine Economy

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index climbed 4.8 percent, its largest gain since June 17, 2003, amid optimism about the outlook for earnings and the economy.

Bank of America revised its full-year growth forecast for the Philippines to 5.3 percent from 4.7 percent after Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri last week said first-quarter growth topped 5.5 percent on faster-than-expected agricultural expansion.

Ayala Corp., owner of the nation's biggest developer and No. 2 banking and phone companies, surged 9.9 percent to 472.50 pesos. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the nation's biggest company by market value, rose 6.1 percent to 2,255 pesos.



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