Asian Stocks Rise as U.S. Jobs Data Boosts Confidence; Honda, Samsung Jump

Asian stocks rose, driving the benchmark index to its longest winning streak since June, after a report last week showed the U.S. added more jobs than forecast, boosting confidence in the world’s largest economy.

Honda Motor Co., a Japanese carmaker that gets about 42 percent of its revenue from North America, climbed 2.9 percent. Komatsu Ltd., the world’s second-largest maker of construction machinery, advanced 2.4 percent. Rio Tinto Ltd., the world’s No. 3 mining company, gained 1 percent as oil and metal prices increased. JX Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest oil refiner, jumped 5.7 percent after raising its full-year profit forecast.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent to 135.09 as of 10:45 a.m. in Tokyo, on course for a sixth consecutive increase. The gauge advanced 4.2 percent last week on optimism the U.S. Federal Reserve will succeed in stoking growth in the world’s biggest economy.

“It appears the U.S. economy is in better shape than when the Fed first announced its new quantitative-easing measures,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1.8 billion at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. in Sydney. “The solid payroll numbers may be another indication that it’s coming out of its soft patch. A strong U.S. economy is immensely helpful in supporting growth around the world, mostly to Asia’s export- dominant countries.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.9 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index increased 0.4 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index slipped 0.1 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index lost 0.2 percent.

Downside Risks Reduced

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent today. The index climbed 0.4 percent on Nov. 5 after U.S. Labor Department figures showed payrolls climbed by 151,000, exceeding the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Private payrolls that exclude government agencies also gained more than forecast, and the jobless rate held at 9.6 percent.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has increased about 3 percent since the Federal Reserve unveiled on Nov. 3 plans to buy an additional $600 billion of Treasuries to bolster economic growth. Stocks in the gauge are valued at 14.7 times estimated earnings on average, compared with about 22.7 times at the start of the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which warned a month ago that the U.S. economic outlook was “fairly bad” at best, said the Fed’s decision to increase bond purchases will spur growth.

‘Risks Have Declined’

“Downside risks to the economic outlook have declined significantly,” Jan Hatzius, the New York-based chief U.S. economist at the company, wrote in an e-mail to clients.

Gauges of industrial and raw-material companies increased the most among the 10 industry groups in the MSCI Asia Pacific index. Honda climbed 2.9 percent to 2,963 yen. Sony Corp., the maker of Bravia televisions and PlayStation game consoles, rose 1.3 percent to 2,746 yen. Komatsu advanced 2.4 percent to 2,225 yen. Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s biggest maker of televisions, memory chips and flat screens, gained 0.8 percent to 782,000 won in Seoul.

“The jobs report indicates the U.S. real economy is heading toward restoration,” said Tomochika Kitaoka, a senior strategist in Tokyo at Mizuho Securities Co.

Rio Tinto gained 1 percent to A$88.07. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-biggest oil producer, increased 1 percent to A$46.20. Mitsui & Co., which gets about 19 percent of sales from commodities, climbed 2.8 percent to 1,356 yen.

Crude oil for December delivery rose 0.4 percent in New York on Nov. 5 to $86.85 a barrel, the highest settlement price since Oct. 8, 2008. The London Metal Exchange Index of prices for six industrial metals including copper and aluminum gained 0.3 percent, and gold futures surged to a record.

JX Holdings surged 6.3 percent to 527 yen. The company raised its full-year profit forecast by 19 percent to 320 billion yen ($3.9 billion) as margins for selling oil products improved after the company was formed out of a merger.