Asian Stocks Rise on U.S. Economic Outlook, Earnings; Honda, Qantas Gain

Asian stocks rose, sending the regional benchmark index to a one-week high, as a higher forecast for U.S. economic growth from the Federal Reserve and improving earnings bolstered confidence in an economic recovery.

Honda Motor Co., which counts North America as its biggest market and is Japan’s second-largest carmaker, climbed 2.1 percent in Tokyo. Samsung Electronics Co., Asia’s biggest maker of chips, flat screens and mobile phones, rose 1.1 percent in Seoul. Qantas Airways Ltd., Australia’s biggest airline, jumped 4.2 percent in Sydney after reporting profit that more than quadrupled.

“Economic sentiment is improving and that is supporting the stock market,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees about $450 million in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “Investors expecting stocks to rise further are increasing” because of positive economic data and strong corporate earnings.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.7 percent to 138.94 as of 9:49 a.m. in Tokyo, heading for its highest close since Feb. 8. The gauge last week sank 2.7 percent after China raised borrowing costs and anti-government protests intensified in Egypt, eventually forcing President Hosni Mubarak to resign.

Of the 453 companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index that have reported results since Jan. 1 for the latest quarter, 177 have exceeded analysts’ estimates, while 138 have missed them, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 0.7 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index and New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index both gained 0.2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index was little changed.
Fed Minutes

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed today. The index rose 0.6 percent yesterday in New York to a 32-month high following the Fed’s forecast for economic growth, improving earnings and takeovers.

Officials “continued to express disappointment in both the pace and the unevenness of the improvements in labor markets,” while also judging the recovery to be on a “firmer footing,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in minutes of its Jan. 25-26 meeting, released today in Washington. Policy makers raised projections for economic growth this year and made little change to forecasts after 2011 or for unemployment and inflation.

Commerce Department figures showed that housing starts climbed 15 percent to a 596,000 annual rate. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey called for a 539,000 rate. Work started on 78 percent more dwellings with two or more units, overshadowing a drop in single-family houses that indicates the housing market continues to struggle.

“An improvement in the housing market and consumer spending is a first step to a self-sustaining recovery,” Ichiyoshi Investment Management’s Akino said.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.2 percent this year to yesterday, compared with gains of 6.3 percent by the S&P 500 and 5.4 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 14.1 times estimated earnings on average, compared with 13.9 times for the S&P 500 and 11.5 times for the Stoxx 600.

Crude oil for March delivery rose 0.8 percent to settle at $84.99 a barrel in New York yesterday.