Asian Stocks Rise as U.S. Data Fuel Growth Hopes; Toshiba Gains

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose, driving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index higher for the week, after the U.S. reported a drop in jobless benefit claims and growth in manufacturing.

Toshiba Corp., which gets 17 percent of its sales from North America, climbed 3.5 percent. Toyota Motor Corp. gained 1.1 percent in Tokyo, leading automakers higher after Autodata Corp. said Japanese and South Korean automakers boosted sales in the U.S. in March. STX Pan Ocean Co., South Korea’s biggest bulk carrier, lost 0.7 percent after shipping prices fell.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.4 percent to 126.64 as of 10:27 a.m. in Tokyo, taking its gain this week to 1.7 percent. The gauge has climbed 11 percent from a more-than-two- month low on Feb. 8 as improving U.S. jobs data, a Federal Reserve pledge to keep borrowing costs low and a Japanese bank- lending program eased concern that budget deficits in Europe will derail the revival in the global economy.

“The global macroeconomic recovery is behind the current uptrend in equities,” Tomomi Yamashita, a Tokyo-based fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management Co., which oversees the equivalent of $3.8 billion. “That trend is unlikely to change though the market is getting overheated.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.4 percent, taking its climb this week to 2.6 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index was little changed. Markets in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, India, the Philippines and Indonesia are closed today for holidays.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent. The gauge increased 0.7 percent to an 18-month high yesterday as signs of strength in global manufacturing and a drop in jobless claims boosted optimism in the economy.