Asian Stocks Advance as U.S., German Reports Beat Estimates

January 17, 2012, 11:11 PM EST

By Yoshiaki Nohara

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose after swinging between gains and losses as economic reports in the U.S. and Germany beat estimates and Fitch Ratings said Greece probably will default on its debt.

James Hardie Industries SE, a building-materials supplier that gets 68 percent of sales from the U.S. rose 0.6 percent. Esprit Holdings Ltd., a clothier that counts Europe as its biggest market, dropped 2.9 percent. Toyota Motor Corp. paced declines among Japanese manufacturers after Tokyo Electric Power Co., the nation?s largest utility, said it will raise power rates by almost a fifth in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis. The utility gained the most on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.5 percent to 118.40 as of 12:47 p.m. in Tokyo after swinging between gains and losses at least seven times. Seven of the 10 industry groups on the index advanced. The measure added 1.9 percent yesterday, the most since Dec. 21.

?Parts of the U.S. economy are insulated from what?s going on in Europe, which is good to say,? said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion in equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. ?Equities remain attractive, but to expect large double-digit returns over the short period of time is unrealistic.?

Japan?s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.1 percent. Hong Kong?s Hang Seng Index added 0.3 percent. Australia?s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.2 percent, and South Korea?s Kospi Index was little changed. The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index increased 0.1 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor?s 500 Index climbed 0.2 percent today after the stock gauge rose 0.4 percent yesterday. A report showed manufacturing in the New York region expanded in January at the fastest pace in nine months. German investor confidence rose the most on record in January. Spanish borrowing costs fell at an auction as investors ignored S&P credit-rating downgrades.

--Editors: John McCluskey, Jason Clenfield

To contact the reporter on this story: Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John McCluskey at j.mccluskey@bloomberg.net

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-17/asian-stocks-advance-as-u-s-german-reports-beat-estimates.html

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