Asian Stocks Rise to Highest in Six Weeks as U.S. Earnings Gain

Asian stocks rose, pushing the regional index to its highest level in six weeks, after U.S. companies including Apple Inc. (AAPL) reported increased profits, signaling the global economic recovery is accelerating, and commodity shares gained.

Samsung Electronics Co., an Apple rival, gained 1.5 percent, advancing for a third day in Seoul and leading technology shares higher. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest mining company, advanced 0.7 percent in Sydney after oil and metal prices rose. Inpex Corp. (1605), Japan’s largest oil and gas explorer, climbed 3.2 percent.

“U.S. companies, especially tech stocks, are doing well, and that’s helping to instill confidence,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees about $600 million in assets in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “Investors are looking to take a little bit more risk.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.6 percent to 137.74 at 9:37 a.m. in Tokyo, headed for its highest close since March 9. About three shares gained for each that fell on the 1,023- member gauge. The measure fell 0.5 percent last week, reversing three weeks of gains.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index and South Korea’s Kospi index each climbed 0.8 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index increased 0.4 percent.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.4 percent today after Apple reported profit that almost doubled. The world’s largest technology company by market value announced earnings after the close of trading in New York.
Oil Prices

Yesterday the S&P500 advanced 1.4 percent, the most in a month, as sales at companies from Intel Corp. to Yahoo! Inc. exceeded estimates and commodity producers gained.

Higher oil and metal prices boosted commodity producers, with the measure for materials shares rising the third-most among the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s 10 industry groups.

Crude for June delivery climbed $3.17 to settle at $111.45 a barrel yesterday in New York, the biggest increase in more than a month. The London Metal Exchange Index of six metals, including copper and aluminum, jumped 2.1 percent, the most in almost two weeks.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.6 percent this year through yesterday, compared with gains of 5.8 percent by the S&P 500 and 1.2 percent by the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 13.2 times estimated earnings on average as of the last close, compared with 13.6 times for the S&P 500 and 11.2 times for the Stoxx 600.