Asian Stocks Rise as JPMorgan, United Parcel Fuel Profit Hopes

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose, driving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to a 20-month high, as U.S. earnings reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to United Parcel Service Inc. bolstered confidence in the global economy.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. advanced 1.2 percent in Tokyo after JPMorgan said a “broad-based” economic recovery boosted profit. Canon Inc., which got 28 percent of its revenue last year in the Americas, advanced 1.1 percent after a government report showed U.S. retail sales rose. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s biggest mining company, gained 0.8 percent after oil and metal prices increased yesterday.

“There’ve been concerns about the stretched nature of valuations, but the stellar earnings season so far has thoroughly justified the performance,” said Chris Weston, a Melbourne-based research analyst at IG Markets. “Economic data has been in line, if not better, and pointing to a clear V- shaped recovery. The biggest risk I see right now is over- confidence.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.6 percent to 129.06 as of 9:15 a.m. in Tokyo, headed for its highest close since Aug. 6, 2008. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.8 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.5 percent.

New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index advanced 0.4 percent as a report showed the nation’s manufacturing industry expanded for a seventh month in March.

Futures on the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. The gauge climbed 1.1 percent yesterday to the highest level since September 2008 as a Commerce Department report showed U.S. retail sales increased 1.6 percent last month, surpassing the 1.2 percent advance estimated by economists.

Earnings Recovery

JPMorgan, the second-biggest U.S. bank by assets, reported a 55 percent jump in first-quarter net income, helped by record fixed-income trading revenue. Shares of UPS, the world’s largest package-delivery company, jumped 4.5 percent in after-hours trading after boosting its full-year profit forecast.

“With corporate earnings and the global economy getting better, there is potentially substantial demand for shares,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees the equivalent of $450 million in assets in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. “There are still many investors who haven’t bought yet.”

A gauge of material producers in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, the best-performing industry group in the past 12 months, rose 0.6 percent after crude oil for May delivery climbed 2.1 percent yesterday, breaking a five-day losing streak. A gauge of six metals advanced 1.2 percent in London.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has gained 6.6 percent this year, compared with an 8.6 percent jump by the S&P 500. Companies in the MSCI gauge trade at 1.7 times book value, the highest level since September 2008.

Xstrata Bid

“The market may be pricing in an earnings recovery too fast, and I’m afraid of a recoil afterwards,” said Ichiyoshi Investment’s Akino.

Shares of Australia’s Macarthur Coal Ltd. were bid higher. Xstrata Plc may have offered major shareholders of Macarthur Coal a cash and scrip offer of just under A$16 a share, the Australian Financial Review reported in its Street Talk column, without saying where it got the information.

San Miguel Corp. may move after the largest Philippine food and drinks company said its profit tripled to a record on gains from the sale of a stake in its beer unit.

Telekom Malaysia Bhd. may also be active in Kuala Lumpur. The Employees Provident Fund, Malaysia’s largest pension fund, bought 5.5 million shares in the company, the nation’s biggest fixed-line operator, a stock-exchange filing showed.