Asian Stocks Rise on Recovery Optimism; Mitsubishi UFJ Gains

By Masaki Kondo

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks jumped, sending the regional benchmark index toward its fourth-straight weekly advance, as world leaders agreed on measures to fight the global recession and manufacturing grew in China.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest publicly traded bank, gained 3.4 percent on speculation a change in U.S. accounting standards will boost bank profits. Komatsu Ltd., a machinery maker that counts China as its fastest growing market, jumped 3.6 percent in Tokyo as China’s production expanded for the first time in six months. BHP Billiton Ltd. climbed 3.7 percent in Sydney after oil and metals prices rose.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1.2 percent to 87.33 at 8:48 a.m. in Tokyo, taking its advance this week to 2.2 percent. The gauge has climbed 24 percent from a more than five-year low on March 9 amid speculation governments will succeed in easing the global financial crisis. A 20-percent gain is the technical level that indicates stocks may have entered a bull market.

“There’s growing optimism that the world economy has reached a bottom,” Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management Co., which oversees about $96 billion, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’ve seen a fairly fast rally lately, and people will likely start getting wary of its pace.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.6 percent to 8,858.52, erasing its decline for this year. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 1.4 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index added 0.6 percent. All markets open for trading advanced.

Accounting Standards

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. The gauge climbed 2.9 percent yesterday as Group of 20 policy makers meeting in London pledged more than $1 trillion to the International Monetary Fund to rescue recession-stricken nations. Leaders from the world’s most powerful countries called for stricter limits on hedge funds, credit-rating companies and risky investment by banks.

The U.S.’s Financial Accounting Standards Board also agreed to relax fair-value, or mark-to-market, accounting that requires banks to revalue assets each quarter to reflect market prices. Writedowns and credit-related losses at financial institutions have swelled to $1.29 trillion.

Mitsubishi UFJ jumped 3.4 percent to 546 yen. National Australia Bank Ltd., the nation’s largest by assets, rose 4.2 percent to A$22.40.

Komatsu, Asia’s largest maker of earthmovers, surged 3.6 percent to 1,225 yen. China’s Purchasing Manager’s Index, which was released yesterday, rose to a seasonally adjusted 52.4 in March from 49 in February, exceeding the threshold of 50 that divides expansion and contraction for the first time since September.

BHP rose 3.7 percent to A$34.63. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest mining company, gained 3 percent to A$59.69. Crude oil soared 8.8 percent to $52.64 a barrel in New York yesterday, the steepest leap since March 12. Copper futures rose 2.2 percent to the highest since Nov. 4.

To contact the reporter for this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net.