Asian Stocks Advance on Bernanke Comments; Mizuho, Nissan Gain

By Patrick Rial

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose for a fourth day, led by finance and mining companies, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said policies to unfreeze credit markets are working.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan’s second-largest publicly traded lender, climbed 2.9 percent in Tokyo. Nissan Motor Co. added 2.4 percent as Merrill Lynch & Co. boosted its price estimate on the company and the yen weakened to a five-month low. Panasonic Corp., the world’s biggest maker of consumer electronics, jumped 4.3 percent after Nomura Holdings Inc. raised the shares to “buy.”

“The comments by Fed officials are boosting confidence in the efficacy of the response to the financial crisis,” Tomochika Kitaoka, a strategist at Mizuho Securities Co., said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.6 percent to 87.29 as of 10:37 a.m. in Tokyo, paring its drop this year to 2.6 percent. The MSCI Asia Index has rallied 24 percent from a more than five-year low reached on March 9.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 1.6 percent to 8,886.87. South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 0.9 percent even after North Korea launched a rocket yesterday that flew over Japan. The S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.1 percent in Australia, where clocks turned back on hour over the weekend for the end of daylight savings. All markets open for trading advanced.

Futures on the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.3 percent. The measure gained 1 percent on April 3, as the VIX index, an index of market volatility known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” fell below 40 for the first time since January, indicating traders are becoming more confident about the market advance.

Rising Valuations

“Relieving disruptions in credit markets and restoring the flow of credit to households and businesses are essential if we are to see, as I expect, the gradual resumption of sustainable economic growth,” Bernanke said the same day. “So far the programs are having the intended effect.”

The four-week stock rally has boosted the average valuation of companies on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to 18 times reported profit, the highest since Nov. 30, 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

North Korea launched a Taepodong-2 rocket yesterday purportedly to orbit a communications satellite. The United Nation’s Security Council adjourned yesterday without agreeing to additional sanctions on North Korea called for by Japan and the U.S.

Japanese exporters climbed after the yen weakened to a five-month low against the dollar and the euro, as last week’s worldwide equities rally added to speculation that the global financial crisis is easing. A weaker yen boosts the value of overseas sales for Japanese companies.

To contact the reporter for this story: Patrick Rial in Tokyo at prial@bloomberg.net.