Most European, Asian Stocks Climb; Friends Provident, Aioi Gain

By Adam Haigh

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Most European stocks rose as Resolution Ltd. agreed to buy Friends Provident Group Plc and a report showed the U.K. housing market improved in July, fuelling speculation the recession is ending. Asian shares climbed.

Friends Provident gained 2.7 percent after the 177-year-old U.K. life insurer agreed to a takeover offer from Clive Cowdery’s Resolution. Aioi Insurance Co. advanced 4.2 percent in Tokyo after reporting higher earnings. Adecco SA, the world’s largest supplier of temporary workers, dropped 5.7 percent in Zurich after reporting an unexpected loss in the second quarter.

Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.1 percent to 229.82 at 8:13 a.m. in London as three stocks rose for every two that fell. The gauge has soared 45 percent since March 9 as companies from GlaxoSmithKline Plc to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported better-than-estimated earnings. The measure is valued at 40.1 times the profits of its companies, the highest level since September 2003, weekly data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The U.K. housing market improved in July as the biggest proportion of real-estate agents and surveyors in two years saw increases in home values, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said today.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring in September were little changed. Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his four Federal Open Market Committee colleagues, gathering today and tomorrow in Washington, may acknowledge an improvement in the economic outlook while maintaining a pledge to buy as much as $1.75 trillion of bonds, economists said.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.6 percent. Aioi advanced 4.2 percent to 477 yen. The casualty insurer said first-quarter net income climbed to 10.6 billion yen ($108.6 million) from 2.43 billion yen a year earlier.

Friends Provident, Adecco

Friends Provident climbed 2.7 percent to 77 pence after the insurer agreed to a 1.86 billion-pound ($3.06 billion) takeover offer.

Adecco fell 5.7 percent to 49.82 Swiss francs after reporting a net loss of 147 million euros ($208 million) for the second quarter. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted net income of 32.8 million euros.

International Power Plc, the biggest U.K.-based electricity producer, advanced 5 percent to 260.8 pence after saying first- half net income rose 50-fold, boosted by sales in Asia and Australia.

Earnings at companies in the Stoxx 600 that reported results since July 8 have slumped 36 percent, while more than half have topped analysts’ projections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net