Japan leads Asian rally

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose, led by Japanese banks and real estate companies, on speculation faster economic growth and falling energy costs will boost profits.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed to a six-year high as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose for the second day and Mitsubishi Estate Co posted the biggest gain in almost three months.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index rose 0.3 per cent to 143.20 at 7:10 pm in Tokyo. The Nikkei advanced 0.7 per cent to 17,621.45, its highest since May 2000.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 2.2 per cent, the biggest slide since November 28. Sino Land Co fell on concern Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke will this week indicate borrowing costs are headed higher.

Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest bank, jumped 1.4 per cent to 1.46 million yen, after gaining 2.9 per cent yesterday. Mizuho Financial Group, the second largest, advanced 0.7 per cent to 865,000 yen.

Mitsubishi Estate, Japan's biggest developer by market value, surged 3.9 per cent to 3,720 yen. Mitsui Fudosan Co, the largest by sales, jumped 6.8 per cent to 3,440 yen, the steepest one-day gain in almost a year.

Mitsui raised its full-year net income forecast to 70 billion yen ($575.2 million) from 63 billion yen, the company said on February 9 after the close of trading.

US

US stock and index futures climbed on speculation that takeovers and company buybacks may revive a rally in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

The S&P 500 has dropped 1.2 per cent since reaching a six-year high on February 7. S&P 500 companies have posted fourth-quarter earnings growth of 9.7 per cent as of February 9, the first quarterly increase of less than 10 per cent in four years.

Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in March added 0.60 to 1438.40 at 11:01 am in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 14 to 12,598. Nasdaq-100 Index futures increased 0.75 to 1786.25.

Europe

European stocks pared earlier gains. UBS, the world's biggest money manager, fell after it reported a second straight profit decline in the fourth-quarter. Carrefour, Europe's largest retailer, rose after the company said Chairman Luc Vandevelde bought almost 10 million euros ($13 million) of stock.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index was little changed at 378.03 as of 10:28 am in London.

The Stoxx 50 added less than 0.1 per cent and the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the 13 nations sharing the euro, increased 0.3 per cent.

UBS slumped 2.6 per cent to 77.55 Swiss francs. Net income fell 47 per cent to 3.41 billion Swiss francs ($2.72 billion), or 1.66 francs a share, from 6.49 billion francs, or 3.14 francs, a year before, when the sale of four money-management units drove profit to a record.

Carrefour, Europe's largest retailer, rose 3.7 per cent to 47.92 euros. Vandevelde bought the shares on February 5, according to a press release posted on the stock market regulator's website. He paid 46.4 euros a share.