World Crisis Online

By Jonathan Burgos and Toshiro Hasegawa

April 27 (Bloomberg) — Asian stocks rose for the first time in four days after U.S. consumer confidence increased, boosting the outlook for the region’s exporters.

Samsung Electronics Co., Asia’s largest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, gained 3 percent in Seoul. Canon Inc., the world’s biggest manufacturer of cameras, surged 7 percent in Tokyo. Origin Energy Ltd., Australia’s No. 1 energy retailer, increased 3.9 percent in Sydney after it and ConocoPhillips signed an agreement last week to supply liquefied natural gas to China Petrochemical Corp. Australia resumed trading today following a five-day Easter break.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.3 percent to 138.39 at 5:25 p.m. in Tokyo, paring an advance of as much as 1.2 percent. Five stocks gained for every four that dropped. The measure climbed 2.2 percent last week after U.S. companies including Apple Inc. reported increased profits, signaling the global economic recovery is accelerating.

“The U.S. economy is recovering and corporate earnings are strong,” said Hiroichi Nishi, an equities manager in Tokyo at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. “More and more manufacturers are resuming operations at factories” after Japan’s March 11 earthquake. “That’s positive for stocks.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 1.4 percent as the trade ministry said 60 percent of factories in earthquake- stricken areas have restarted production. The nation’s sovereign-rating outlook was cut to “negative” by Standard & Poor’s as reconstruction costs following last month’s temblor will likely add to what is already the world’s biggest debt load.

South Korea, Australia

New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.5 percent, erasing its advance of as much as 1.1 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5 percent, erasing gains of as much as 0.8 percent.

South Korea’s Kospi Index was little changed, trimming gains of as much as 1.1 percent, as the nation’s economic growth accelerated in the first quarter, bolstering the case for another interest-rate increase. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.8 percent, erasing gains of as much as 0.3 percent, after a report showed the country’s consumer prices gained the most in five years in the first quarter, increasing pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise rates.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.1 percent today. In New York, the index gained 0.9 percent yesterday, the highest level since June 2008, as earnings at companies from 3M Co. to United Parcel Service Inc. and Ford Motor Co. topped analysts’ estimates and confidence among U.S. consumers increased more than forecast.

Exporters Rise

Exporters gained after a report from the New York-based Conference Board showed the confidence index rose to 65.4 in April from a revised 63.8 reading in March. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected an advance to 64.5.

Samsung Electronics, which gets about 22 percent of sales from America, climbed 3 percent to 924,000 won in Seoul. Li & Fung Ltd., the biggest supplier of clothes and toys to retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., gained 1 percent to HK$39.45 in Hong Kong. Canon, which gets more than 80 percent of its sales outside of Japan, surged 7 percent to 3,740 yen in Tokyo.

Federal Reserve policy makers began two days of meetings yesterday, and will likely say they’ll complete a second round of scheduled bond purchases worth $600 billion through the end of June to help sustain the recovery.

Investors Watching

“People are watching the Fed meeting on interest rates and for any indication” on more quantitative easing, said Ronald Wan, Hong Kong-based managing director of China Merchants Securities Co. “Sentiment today has been relatively positive given the calmer economic outlook and after some positive corporate results.”

Japanese exporters also gained as the yen weakened against all its 16 major counterparts after S&P cut Japan’s sovereign rating outlook. A weaker yen boosts the value of overseas income at Japanese companies when converted into their home currency.

Honda Motor Co., Japan’s second-largest carmaker, gained 1.5 percent to 3,100 yen in Tokyo. Nissan Motor Co., the country’s No. 3 carmaker, rose 2.2 percent to 778 yen. Fanuc Corp., the nation’s biggest maker of industrial robots, increased 3.6 percent to 13,260 yen.

Origin Energy jumped 3.9 percent to A$16.87 in Sydney. The company and its partner ConocoPhillips last week clinched Australia’s largest liquefied-natural-gas export deal, agreeing to supply 4.3 million metric tons of the fuel a year over two decades to China Petrochemical.

Stock Rating

The Australia-Pacific LNG venture partners also agreed to sell a 15 percent stake in the proposed $18.5 billion project in Queensland state to China Petrochemical for $1.5 billion.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, advanced 2.8 percent to NT$72.30 in Taipei after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its rating on the stock to “buy” from “neutral” and raised its share-price forecast to NT$90 from NT$64.

Compal Electronics Inc., the world’s second-largest contract maker of notebooks, gained 2.6 percent to NT$31.80 after announcing plans to pay a record NT$2.70 per share cash dividend.

Kuraray Co., a Japanese fiber maker, surged 11 percent to 1,178 yen, the biggest advance on the regional benchmark index. The company said full-year net income surged 76 percent to 28.7 billion yen ($352 million) on demand from Europe, the U.S. and China.

South Korean Builders

South Korean construction companies rallied after the Edaily reported the government may announce measures to help builders repay real-estate development loans, citing Construction Minister Chung Jong Hwan.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., South Korea’s No. 1 builder, surged 7.8 percent to 88,400 won in Seoul. GS Engineering & Construction Corp., the country’s third-largest builder, rose 5.4 percent to 127,000 won. Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., the fourth-biggest, increased 5.8 percent to 11,900 won.

Among stocks that declined, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., the country’s second-largest mobile phone company, slid 2.5 percent to HK$15.36. The company said yesterday first-quarter profit tumbled 86 percent to 166 million yuan ($25.5 million) from a year earlier as it subsidized handsets to attract customers. The result missed the 1.13 billion yuan median forecast of four analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.2 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 7.1 percent by the S&P 500 and 2 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.2 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.7 times for the S&P 500 and 11.4 times for the Stoxx 600.

–With assistance from Akiko Ikeda in Tokyo and Weiyi Lim in Singapore. Editors: John McCluskey, Jason Clenfield.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Toshiro Hasegawa in Tokyo at thasegawa6@bloomberg.net.

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