Asian Stocks Gain This Week as Economy, Profit Concerns Ease

By Chua Kong Ho and Shani Raja

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose this week, snapping a four-week losing streak, after the U.S. economy grew faster than estimated and commodity producers reported higher profits.

Toyota Motor Corp., which gets more than a third of its sales from North America, and Honda Motor Co. advanced more than 3 percent after the U.S. economy grew an annualized 3.3 percent in the second quarter, more than economists expected. Cnooc, China's largest offshore oil explorer, climbed 13 percent while Woodside Petroleum Ltd. advanced 11 percent after they both posted earnings that beat analyst estimates.

``The U.S. economy just refuses to roll over, despite the most dire predictions,'' said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage the equivalent of about $1.8 billion at Platypus Asset Management in Sydney. ``Such a strong performance from the world's largest economy is a big positive.''

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 3 percent to 125.30, the first weekly gain since five days ended July 25. All 10 industry groups advanced this week.

The measure has dropped 21 percent this year as soaring fuel prices damped consumer spending and eroded corporate profits, while writedowns and credit losses at the world's largest financial companies topped $500 billion.

Japan's Nikkei 200 Stock Average had the biggest weekly advance since July 25, gaining 3.2 percent. Benchmark indexes rose in most other Asian markets.

U.S. Economy

Toyota Motor gained 3.4 percent to 4,930 yen, while rival Honda, which depends on North America for more than half of its sales, climbed 4.1 percent to 3,580 yen. Nintendo Co. soared 5.3 percent to 518,000 yen after raising its full-year profit forecast by 26 percent, citing a weaker yen and sales of its DS and Wii players.

The U.S. government's initial estimate of economic growth was 1.9 percent last month and economists in a Bloomberg survey on average projected 2.7 percent. The data follows an unexpected advance in durable goods orders that helped boost U.S. stocks this week. Japan's factory output increased 0.9 percent in July from the previous month, beating the median estimate for a 0.3 percent decline in a Bloomberg survey.

Cnooc surged 13 percent to HK$12.06, after the Hong Kong- listed oil explorer said first-half profit jumped 89 percent to a record 27.54 billion yuan ($4 billion). That topped the median profit estimate of 22.1 billion yuan in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Australia's Woodside, the country's second-largest oil and gas explorer, rallied 11 percent to A$63.05, as profit for the first six months climbed to A$1.02 billion, higher than the A$939.3 million median analyst forecast in a Bloomberg survey.

`Solid Results'

Sinofert Holdings Ltd., China's largest fertilizer importer, surged 23 percent to HK$5.11, the biggest weekly gain since January 2004. First-half profit more than doubled to 1.24 billion yuan ($181 million) as record food prices spurred farmers to increase plantings and helped it raise product prices, the Beijing-based company said Aug. 28.

``We're positive on commodities companies in the longer term as emerging-market usage of raw materials continues to grow,'' said Michael Foo, Singapore-based head of Asian portfolio management at Clariden Leu AG, which manages the equivalent of $126 billion in assets globally.

Cosco Pacific Ltd., Asia's third-largest container terminal operator, jumped 17 percent to HK$11.96, after boosting its first-half profit by 11 percent, as China's exports of toys, furniture and clothes drove sea-cargo traffic.

To contact the reporter for this story: Chua Kong Ho in Shanghai at kchua6@bloomberg.net; Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net