Bloomberg : Most Asia Stocks Gain, Led by Commodity Producers; Banks Drop
By Masaki Kondo and Akiko Ikeda
Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — Most Asian stocks gained as commodity producers advanced on higher oil and metal prices, overshadowing losses by financial companies after National Australia Bank Ltd. said it will sell stock.
BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, added 1.3 percent. James Hardie Industries NV, the top seller of home siding in the U.S., rose 2.1 percent in Sydney after a U.S. government report showed housing starts increased. AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd. soared 12 percent after National Australia Bank said it agreed to buy AXA Asia’s Australian and New Zealand businesses. Shares of National Australia Bank were suspended from trading after the lender said it will sell A$1.5 billion ($1.3 billion) in stock to help fund the purchase.
About six stocks rose for every four that dropped on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which added 0.1 percent to 119.69 as of 9:56 a.m. in Tokyo. The gauge has jumped 33 percent in 2009, set for its biggest annual gain since 2003.
“The U.S. data showed business sentiment is improving,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees the equivalent of $450 million at Tokyo-based Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “There will be a tug of war between improvement in business confidence and contraction of excess liquidity.”
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.5 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 0.5 percent. The Kospi Index fell 0.2 percent in Seoul.
Interest Rates
In New York, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1 percent after the Federal Reserve repeated its pledge to keep interest rates “exceptionally low” for an “extended period.”
“Deterioration in the labor market is abating,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after meeting in Washington. “Household spending appears to be expanding at a moderate rate, though it remains constrained by a weak labor market, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit.”
Builders broke ground on 574,000 homes in November, an 8.9 percent annualized increase from the prior month, the Commerce Department said in Washington. A Labor Department report showed consumer prices excluding food and energy were unchanged, compared with a median forecast for a 0.1 percent increase in a Bloomberg News survey of 79 economists.
The London Metals Index, a measure of six metals including copper and zinc, climbed 2.3 percent yesterday. Crude oil for January delivery jumped 2.8 percent to $72.66 a barrel in New York, rising the most in a month.
To contact the reporter for this story: Masaki Kondo in Tokyo at mkondo3@bloomberg.net; Akiko Ikeda in Tokyo at iakiko@bloomberg.net.