Asian Stocks Rise on Government Stimulus Plans, Chip Prices

By Jonathan Burgos and Shani Raja

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose for the first time in three days, led by bank and technology shares, as Japan and Australia widened efforts to revive economic growth and memory- chip prices surged.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Australia’s No. 1 mortgage lender, soared 9.2 percent in Sydney after saying profit will beat analysts’ estimates. Hynix Semiconductor Inc. jumped 3 percent in Seoul as chip prices climbed the most since November 2007. Stocks gained as Australia announced $26.5 billion in extra spending and the Bank of Japan said it will buy shares held by financial institutions.

“These sorts of stimulus measures are steps in the right direction,” said Nader Naeimi, an investment strategist at AMP Capital Investors in Sydney, which manages about $85 billion. “We need circuit-breakers to unlock the credit logjam.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1 percent to 82.08 as of 11:24 a.m. in Tokyo, with two stocks advancing for each that declined. The gauge is down 8.4 percent this year amid mounting signs the global recession is pummeling corporate profits.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 1.5 percent to 3,549.90, while the Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.1 percent. All markets open for trading advanced except Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.7 percent. The gauge dropped 0.1 percent yesterday as a government report showed that consumer spending slumped for a sixth straight month and companies from Mattel Inc. to Rockwell Automation Inc. posted lower-than-estimated profit.

Government Intervention

Governments around the world are stepping up efforts to revive a global economy burdened by more than $1 trillion of losses tied to the credit crisis. Global growth will almost grind to a halt this year, the International Monetary Fund said last week. South Korea’s finance ministry said today that the IMF expects the country’s economy to contract this year for the first time in 10 years.

Australia today announced its second stimulus package since October to prevent its economy entering the first recession since 1991. Economists in a Bloomberg News survey also expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut borrowing costs later today to the lowest level since the 1960s.

“Every little bit helps,” said Rob Patterson, who manages about $2 billion at Argo Investments in Adelaide, Australia. “We’re trying not to join the rest of the world in a recession.”

Japan’s central bank said it will buy 1 trillion yen ($11.1 billion) in shares through April 2010 and will hold onto them until March 2012 at the earliest.

Computer Chips

Commonwealth Bank jumped 9.2 percent to A$28.87 after saying first-half profit will be about 20 percent higher than analysts have estimated. National Australia Bank Ltd., the country’s biggest by assets, added 4.9 percent to A$19.62. Woolworths Ltd., Australia’s largest retailer, gained 2.8 percent to A$27.90.

Hynix, the world’s second-biggest computer-memory maker, climbed 3 percent to 9,170 won in Seoul. Samsung Electronics Co., Hynix’s larger rival, gained 4.1 percent to 493,000 won. Advantest Corp., the world’s biggest maker of memory-chip testers, rose 3.6 percent to 1,275 yen in Tokyo.

Average prices of the benchmark dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, jumped 27 percent yesterday, the most since November 2007, according to Dramexchange Technology Inc., Asia’s largest spot market for the chips. Germany-based Qimonda AG’s insolvency filing last month raised expectations a glut will ease.

-- Editors: Darren Boey, Tony Jordan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net.