Asia stocks at 7-wk high

GLOBAL MARKETS/ STOCK REPORT

Asian stocks rose, sending the region's benchmark index to a seven-week high, on speculation the worst of credit-market losses at banks has passed and earnings at machinery makers will climb.

National Australia Bank jumped the most in a month, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group advanced to a three-month high after Citigroup posted a narrower loss than analysts' most pessimistic estimates. Honda Motor Co. led gains by automakers after the yen fell to the lowest in almost two months against the dollar.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 2.9 per cent to 148.53 as of 7:08 p.m. in Tokyo, the highest since February 28, and all 10 of its industry groups advanced.

The index has rallied 12 per cent from a two-month low on March 17 after JPMorgan Chase rescued Bear Stearns and the Federal Reserve cut borrowing costs to shore up confidence in the financial system.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.6 per cent to 13,696.55, and most Asian benchmarks rose.

EUROPE
European stock-index futures were little changed. Record oil and rising metal prices may lift energy companies and raw-material producers.

BP Plc will probably gain after crude climbed above $117 a barrel for the first time, and BHP Billiton may follow copper prices higher. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc might drop after the UK's second-biggest lender said it may sell shares to shore up capital. Barclays Plc may fall as Merrill Lynch & Co downgraded the shares.

Futures on the Dow Jones Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, slipped 2, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 3,735 at 7:34 a.m. in London. The UK's FTSE 100 Index may rise 7, according to IG Markets.

American depositary receipts of BP rose 0.1 per cent above the closing price in London. ADRs of Total SA, Europe's third- largest oil company, ended 0.2 per cent higher than the close in Paris.

US
US stock-index futures pared earlier gains. Halliburton Co and Merck & Co declined in Europe before reporting first-quarter earnings.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in June were little changed at 1,388.30 as of 10:43 a.m. in London, after advancing as much as 0.4 per cent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 1 to 12,811 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures decreased 1 to 1,902. Halliburton, the world's second-biggest oilfied-services provider, fell 24 cents to $47.19 in Germany. Merck, the third- largest drugmaker, lost 12 cents to $39.64.