Asian Stocks Gain as Improving U.S. Jobs Data Offsets Middle East Unrest

Japanese stock futures rose as signs of a strengthening U.S. job market overshadowed concern that political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa will drive energy costs higher. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Asian stocks rose as signs of a strengthening U.S. job market overshadowed concern that political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa will drive energy costs higher.

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-biggest carmaker that gets 84 percent of its revenue abroad, advanced 0.6 percent in Tokyo. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), Australia’s biggest oil producer, rose 0.5 percent and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (WPL) gained 1.4 percent in Sydney as crude in New York rose for a third day to near a 29-month high. BlueScope Steel Ltd. lost 2 percent amid concern the Australian government’s carbon-pricing plans may force a shutdown of its Port Kembla steelworks.

“The employment data showed a better-than-expected improvement and we got confirmation of upward momentum in the U.S. economy,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees about $450 million in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “It’s possible turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa will spread to Saudi Arabia and Iran, so uncertainty still remains.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent to 137.72 at 9:31 a.m. in Tokyo, with almost four stocks rising for each that fell. The gauge dropped 2.1 percent last week as political unrest swept the Middle East and North Africa.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average gained 0.5 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed, while South Korea’s Kospi Index advanced 1 percent.

U.S. Jobs

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 percent today. The index climbed 0.2 percent yesterday in New York after a report from ADP Employer Services showed U.S. employment increased by 217,000 in February, compared with a median estimate of 180,000 in the Bloomberg News survey. The Federal Reserve separately said the labor market improved throughout the U.S. early this year, driven by increasing retail sales and “solid growth” in manufacturing.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.2 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 4 percent by the S&P 500 and 2.5 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 14 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.6 times for the S&P 500 and 11.2 times for the Stoxx 600.

Crude for April delivery climbed 2.6 percent to $102.23 a barrel in New York yesterday, the highest settlement since Sept. 26, 2008, on concern that the unrest curbing exports from Libya will spread to other countries in the region. Today, crude rose as much as 0.7 percent.

Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi counter-attacked rebels in the coastal region where much of the country’s crude is refined or shipped abroad, according to a local oil official. And Qaddafi, speaking on state television, said his government retains control of oil fields though output has fallen to “the lowest level” after workers fled.

To contact the reporters on this story: Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net. Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo at skawano1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net.