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Yen boost to Asian stocks

GLOBAL MARKETS/ STOCK REPORT

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Bloomberg Mumbai
Last Updated : Feb 05 2013 | 2:21 AM IST
Asian stocks gained, led by Japanese exporters, after the yen reached a two-month low against the dollar. BHP Billiton and Inpex Holdings fell after oil and copper prices extended their biggest drops in seven weeks.
 
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose as Japan's market, which was closed yesterday, caught up with a rally fueled by a pickup in US hiring.
 
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index rose 0.2 per cent to 166.04 as of 4:30 pm in Tokyo, after earlier gaining as much as 0.5 per cent.
 
The Nikkei 225 added 0.6 per cent to 17,159.90. K K DaVinci Advisors led real estate-related shares higher after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. offered to buy Simplex Investment Advisors. Benchmarks also gained in Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Pakistan. They fell elsewhere in the region.
 
Europe
European stocks climbed after takeover offers for Hagemeyer, Burren Energy and UK retailer Carpetright added to evidence that mergers and acquisitions are recovering.
 
The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.2 per cent to 386.68 as of 10:16 am in London. Mergers and acquisitions are picking up less than a month after the subprime-mortgage collapse brought credit markets to a standstill.
 
So far in October, $90 billion worth of new deals have been announced worldwide, half the total in each of the last two months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
 
National benchmarks rose in nine of the 17 western European markets that were open. France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX were little changed. The UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.6 per cent. The Stoxx 50 rose 0.2 per cent, while the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the euro region, slipped 0.1 per cent.
 
US
US stock-index futures were little changed before Alcoa kicks off the third-quarter earnings season and the Federal Reserve releases minutes of its last Open Market Committee meeting.
 
Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December added 1.7 to 1,564.4 as of 10.50 am in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures increased 11 to 14,123 and Nasdaq 100 Index futures rose 1.75 to 2,182.
 
The central bank cut its benchmark lending rate on September 18 by half a percentage point to 4.75 percent to keep credit-market losses and the real-estate slump from dragging down the economy.
 
US stocks fell for the first time in three days yesterday, led by oil producers and miners, on concern a slowing economy will reduce demand for energy and metals.
 
Alcoa shares added 30 cents to $38.60 in Germany. The company may report adjusted third-quarter profit of 65 cents a share, down from 81 cents in the second quarter, the average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg showed.
 
Apple rose 35 cents to $168.26. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. raised its price estimate on shares the maker of iPod digital music players to $175 from $135.
 
Coca-Cola fell 49 cents to $57.31 and PepsiCo retreated 6 cents to $73.85 in Germany after Deutsche Bank cut its recommendation on shares of the world's largest soda makers to ``hold'' from ``buy.''

 
 

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First Published: Oct 10 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

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