Asian Stocks Rise as U.S. Election Results Unfold; BHP Gains

By Kyung Bok Cho and Chua Kong Ho

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks gained as commodities prices rose and investors speculated the next U.S. president will take steps to bolster the world's largest economy.

BHP Billiton Ltd. advanced 4.4 percent after oil soared 10 percent and metals prices climbed. Honda Motor Co. gained 3.9 percent on speculation a revival in the U.S. will bolster automobile demand. KB Financial Group Inc., owner of South Korea's biggest bank, added 4.5 percent as money market rates fell, indicating credit markets are thawing out.

``The U.S. presidential election can change investment sentiment,'' said Roger Groebli, Singapore-based head of financial market analysis at LGT Capital Management, which oversees about $20 billion. ``We all know that the new president can't work miracles, but maybe he'll open the gateway to change.''

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1.3 percent to 91.40 as of 9:10 a.m. in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 2.6 percent to 9,350.63. All markets open for trading advanced.

Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were little changed. The S&P 500 climbed 4.1 percent yesterday, the biggest presidential Election Day rally in 24 years. Voting concludes during Asian trading hours today for the U.S. presidential election between Democrat Barack Obama, the favorite in polls, and Republican John McCain.

Whoever wins will face a U.S. economy battered by declining corporate profits and the highest unemployment in five years. Concern that $680 billion in bank writedowns will halt growth pushed the S&P 500 down 17 percent last month, the most since 1987. The MSCI Asia Pacific slumped 20 percent in October.

Support Measures

``Stock markets globally are rising, a trend that's set to continue today,'' Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager at Tokyo- based Nikko Cordial Securities Inc., said on Bloomberg Television. ``With the election ending, expectations are now shifting to new support measures for the economy.''

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is considering taking stakes in nonbank financial companies after allocating $250 billion for government investments in banks, people briefed on the matter said. Initially, the Troubled Asset Relief Program was intended to buy mortgage-backed securities and other assets for which investor demand had dried up.

Crude oil jumped 10 percent to $70.53 a barrel yesterday in New York, the biggest gain since Sept. 22. A measure of six metals traded on the London Metal Exchange rose 4.5 percent.

The cost of borrowing dollars in London fell to the lowest level in almost four years as central banks worldwide injected cash and cut interest rates. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, for one-month loans slid 18 basis points to 2.18 percent yesterday, the lowest level since November 2004, and the 17th straight decline.

To contact the reporter for this story: Kyung Bok Cho in Seoul at kcho7@bloomberg.net; Chua Kong Ho in Shanghai at kchua6@bloomberg.net.