European, U.S. Stock-Index Futures Gain; Asian Shares Advance

By Adria Cimino

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- European and U.S. stock-index futures rose and Asian shares advanced after the Group of 20 nations agreed to maintain stimulus efforts and Axa SA and AMP Ltd. offered to buy Axa Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd.

Axa Asia Pacific, the Australian unit of France’s biggest insurer, soared 33 percent after rejecting an unsolicited $10 billion bid from parent Axa SA and wealth manager AMP Ltd. Cadbury Plc may be active as today is the deadline for Kraft Foods Inc. to make a formal bid for the world’s second-largest candy and chocolate maker. Continental AG may gain after Citigroup Inc. recommended the tiremaker.

Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, added 1 percent at 7:16 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index may increase 33, according to Cantor Index, a betting firm.

“Equity markets in Europe are set to start the week on an upbeat footing after the G-20 meetings concluded that global stimulus efforts would remain in place,” Ben Potter, research analyst at IG Markets in Melbourne, wrote in a note.

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, hosting a meeting of finance ministers from G-20 nations, said his colleagues decided to keep supporting their economies. The G-20 agreed to keep interest rates low and maintain record budget deficits until recoveries take hold.

Tobin Tax

The G-20 split on whether to introduce a so-called Tobin tax on financial trading as part of a broader strategy to ensure the global economy’s expansion is less crisis-prone.

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the meeting in St. Andrews, Scotland that such a levy could prevent excessive risk taking and fund future bank rescues, adding momentum to a debate begun by France. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said a “day-by-day” tax on speculation is “not something we’re prepared to support.”

European stocks last week rebounded from a one-month low as better-than-expected earnings at companies from Swiss Reinsurance Co. to Delhaize Group SA fed investors’ expectations a seven-month advance will go on. U.S. shares halted a two-week retreat after worker productivity, manufacturing and home sales beat economists’ projections and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. made its biggest purchase.

The global rally in equities lost pace in October on concern the rebound has gone too far relative to the prospects for economic growth. The Stoxx 600 is up 53 percent since March 9 even after dropping 2.3 percent last month.

U.S., Asian Shares

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.5 percent today, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.7 percent.

Axa Asia Pacific soared 33 percent to A$5.70 in Sydney. The offer, Asia’s largest takeover bid this year, marks the second attempt by parent Axa SA to buy the unit in the past five years to tap rising wealth in a region recovering from the global financial crisis faster than the U.S. and Europe. Axa said it will raise 2 billion euros ($3 billion) in a rights offering to finance acquisition opportunities.

Cadbury may be active. Kraft, the world’s second-largest food maker, may have to increase its 9.8 billion-pound ($16 billion) bid for confectioner Cadbury Plc by today’s deadline to keep its takeover attempt alive, investors said. U.K. regulators set a Nov. 9 deadline for Kraft to make a formal offer or walk away for six months.

Cadbury Chairman Roger Carr has met most of the company’s 50 largest shareholders to persuade them to back the confectioner’s defense against the takeover offer, the London- based Sunday Telegraph reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Continental, EDF

Continental, Europe’s second-largest auto-parts maker, was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Citigroup, which cited improved earnings prospects and the potential for a “favorable” debt refinancing next year in a note to clients.

Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest power producer, had its recommendation cut to “underweight” from “neutral” at HSBC Holdings Plc.

Allianz SE, Europe’s biggest insurer, said third-quarter profit more than doubled after investment income recovered from year-earlier writedowns. Net income rose to 1.32 billion euros, from 545 million euros a year earlier, excluding the sale of Dresdner Bank. That beat the 1.25 billion-euro median estimate of 18 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Stocks around the world are falling at the fastest rate since the worst of the credit crisis on concern central banks will start raising rates, a signal that triggered the biggest rallies over the past three decades.

Benchmark indexes from New York to Tokyo to Frankfurt have lost an average of 4.4 percent since Oct. 19 on speculation policy makers will curtail stimulus measures before the global economy revives. History shows stocks have climbed 92 percent of the time in the six months before government borrowing costs began the biggest increases, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adria Cimino in Paris at acimino1@bloomberg.net.