Stocks in Europe, Asia Rise on Possible Lehman Sale; UBS Gains

By Sarah Jones

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Europe and Asia rose for the first time in four days as speculation Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will find a buyer eased concern of bank failures. U.S. index futures declined.

Societe Generale SA and UBS AG both climbed 2.1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. gained 4.3 percent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, rallied 3.1 percent as copper rose for a third day in London. Deutsche Postbank AG climbed 3.8 percent after Banco Santander SA offered to buy the German bank.

The MSCI World Index added 0.8 percent to 1,272.68 at 8:05 a.m. in London, lifting the index to a 0.3 percent gain for the week. All 10 industry groups increased.

``Much of the talk is still about Lehman Brothers and the fact that the company is now expected to announce it has found a buyer,'' said Matt Buckland, a London-based dealer at CMC.

Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index advanced 0.8 percent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.8 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.1 percent before a report that may show retail sales excluding autos declined.

The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve have been working with Lehman on a sale of the securities firm, and a deal may be announced before Asian markets open Sept. 15, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

Bank of America Corp. is a potential suitor, the Wall Street Journal said on its Web site.

More than $15 trillion has been erased from global equities in 2008 as the biggest surge in mortgage defaults in at least three decades sparked $510 billion in credit-related losses worldwide and threatened economic growth.

SocGen, UBS

Societe Generale, France's second-largest bank, rose 2.1 percent to 65.23 euros. UBS, the European bank hardest hit by the subprime crisis, gained 2.1 percent to 23.38 francs. Credit Suisse Group AG, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, added 2 percent to 52 francs.

Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest bank, rallied 4.3 percent to 858 yen. Woori Finance Holdings Co., which has the most U.S. mortgage-related investments among South Korean banks, gained 5.2 percent to 15,050 won.

BHP Billiton jumped 3.1 percent to 1,448 pence as copper heads for the first weekly gain in three. Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-biggest mining company, added 3.2 percent to 4,289 pence.

The base metal for three-month delivery rose as much as 1.3 percent to $7,020 a ton on the London Metal Exchange.

Postbank climbed 3.8 percent to 47.50 euros. Santander said yesterday it was seeking to buy the whole bank, without elaborating. The bid comes after Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, said it was in talks to buy as much as 30 percent of Deutsche Postbank.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net.