By Jonathan Burgos - Dec 23, 2011 1:35 PM GMT+0700
Asian stocks (MXAP) rose, with a regional index heading for its first gain in three weeks, as a drop in U.S. jobless claims and an increase in consumer confidence added to signs the world’s biggest economy is weathering Europe’s debt crisis.
Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea’s biggest exporter of consumer electronics, advanced 1.5 percent in Seoul. James Hardie Industries SE (JHX), a supplier of building materials the counts the U.S. as its largest market, climbed 3.6 percent in Sydney. Gloucester Coal Ltd. surged 22 percent after Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. offered to buy the Sydney-based company for about A$2.1 billion ($2.1 billion) in cash and shares.
“Its encouraging that the U.S. economy is improving,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion at Pengana Capital Ltd. Melbourne. “Asset prices can probably go further despite this fairly benign economic environment. There’s probably a need for further policy response in Europe but at least we’re seeing that the liquidity mechanism put in place are starting to impact positively in terms of bond yields paring their gains.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Excluding Japan Index (MXAPJ) climbed 1.3 percent to 397.48 at 2:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, heading for a 2.2 percent advance this week. Almost five shares gained for each that fell in the gauge.
The regional index had fallen in the past two weeks as signs of slowing growth in China and concern that Europe’s debt crisis is worsening overshadowed improving U.S. data. Greece’s creditors are resisting pressure from the International Monetary Fund to accept bigger losses on holdings of the indebted nation’s government bonds, three people with direct knowledge of the discussions said.
New Zealand Quake
South Korea’s Kospi Index (KOSPI) rose 1.1 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also added 1.1 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 1.2 percent. Japanese markets are closed today for a holiday.
New Zealand’s NZX 50 (NZSE50FG) Index added 0.3 percent, paring gains of as much as 0.7 percent after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Christchurch, the country’s second-largest city..
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) rose 0.5 percent today. The gauge rose 0.8 percent in New York yesterday amid better-than-estimated economic reports.
Asian exporters gained as the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped last week to the lowest since April 2008 and consumer confidence rose more than forecast in December to a six-month high.
Samsung Electronics increased 1.5 percent to 1.068 million won in Seoul. Li & Fung Ltd. (494), a supplier of clothes and toys to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., rose 1.1 percent to HK$14.30 in Hong Kong. James Hardie climbed 3.6 percent to A$6.96.
‘Overall Premium’
Gloucester (GCL) Coal surged 22 percent to A$8.55 in Sydney. Yanzhou Coal, China’s fourth-biggest coal producer, is buying the Sydney-based company for A$2.1 billion in a cash and share deal that values Gloucester at as much as A$10.16 a share, Gloucester said in a statement.
“There is an overall premium to recent share prices and I think the market has captured a good proportion of that,” Lawrence Grech, a resources analyst at Austock Group Ltd. in Melbourne, said by phone.“There is an indication of value which Yanzhou is obviously signaling but the benefits of that are more than 18 months into the future.”
Yanzhou Coal, which will gain more mines and port access in Australia with the acquisition, climbed 7.5 percent to HK$16.88 in Hong Kong. Noble Group Ltd. (NOBL), the biggest shareholder of Gloucester, was unchanged at S$1.19 in Singapore.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which includes Japan, slumped 18 percent this year through yesterday, heading for its worst performance since 2008. Utilities posted the biggest decline among the 10 industry groups in the gauge as Japanese utilities tumbled after meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant. It was the worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
Taiwanese Insurers
The regional benchmark index’s drop this year compared with a 0.3 percent decline by the S&P 500 and a 13 percent slide by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian gauge were valued at 12.6 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 12.7 times for the S&P 500 and 10.4 times for the Stoxx 600, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Taiwanese insurance companies rallied after the nation’s financial regulator eased rules to allow life insurers to establish a mechanism for foreign-exchange hedging.
Cathay Financial Holding Co. (2882), Taiwan’s biggest life insurer by market value, jumped 6.9 percent to NT$33.3. China Life Insurance Co. gained 6.8 percent to NT$25. Shin Kong Financial Holding Co. climbed 6.6 percent to NT$8.83.
Keppel Corp., the world’s biggest builder of oil platforms, rose 2.8 percent to S$9.51 in Singapore. The company said its Fernvale unit won a contract valued at $809 million to build a semi-submersible drilling rig for Urca Drilling BV, a unit of Petroleo Brasileiro’s Sete Brasil.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
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