Australian, South Korean Stocks Rise on U.S. Manufacturing Data

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Australian and South Korean stocks gained after U.S. manufacturing grew at the fastest pace since 2004 and personal spending increased, buoying confidence in the global economic recovery.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s biggest automaker, climbed 3.7 percent in Seoul on higher U.S. sales. Westfield Group, the world’s biggest shopping center by market value, gained 2.4 percent in Sydney after reporting better-than-expected growth in its Australian malls. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, rose 0.6 percent in Sydney after crude oil climbed to a 3-week high in New York yesterday.

“The mentality of the market is still buy the dips, especially when the economic data from the U.S. is all very positive,” said Chris Weston, an institutional dealer at IG Markets in Melbourne.

The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index increased 0.3 percent to 423.49 as of 8:30 a.m. in Hong Kong. The gauge has increased 13 percent from its low this year on Feb. 8 as better- than-estimated economic and earnings reports worldwide offset concerns a debt crisis in Europe will damp growth.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.1 percent to 4,789.40. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index rose 0.4 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Index climbed 0.6 percent. Japan is closed for a public holiday.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. The gauge advanced 1.3 percent yesterday, the most since March 5, after the Institute for Supply Management’s index of manufacturing advanced to 60.4 in April from 59.6 a month earlier. Commerce Department figures showed consumer spending in the U.S. rose in March by the most in five months and incomes climbed for the first time this year.

Australian manufacturing growth accelerated in April to the fastest pace in almost eight years, the Australian Industry Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a separate survey released yesterday in Canberra.