Asia on seven-week high

GLOBAL MARKETS/ STOCK REPORT

Asian stocks advanced the most in seven weeks, led by banks and electronics makers, on speculation that financial companies will be able to overcome a freeze in credit markets and shore up global economic growth.

Macquarie Group, Australia's biggest investment bank, and South Korea's Kookmin Bank surged after Lehman Brothers Holdings and UBS said they are raising $19 billion to replenish capital.

Samsung Electronics climbed to the highest in more than eight months as traders bet demand for the company's products will increase.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 3.6 per cent to 143.60 points as of 7:18 pm in Tokyo, the biggest gain since February 14. All 10 industry groups on the benchmark rose, with a gauge of financial stocks leading the advance.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 4.2 percent to 13,189.36, also the largest increase since February 14, boosted by a gain in the dollar against the yen. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 3.2 per cent. Most of the region's benchmarks advanced.

Shares in the region also advanced after the US Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index, released yesterday, rose to 48.6 in March from 48.3 the previous month, compared with economist estimates for a decline. Fifty is a threshold between contraction and expansion.

EUROPE
European stock-index futures rose, following gains in US and Asian equities. Credit Suisse Group, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, and Barclays will probably lead financial shares higher for a second day.

Daimler might lead a retreat by carmakers after US sales of its Mercedes-Benz car division dropped last month and Morgan Stanley downgraded the shares to "underweight."

Futures on the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, added 29 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 3,703 at 7:35 am in London.

US
US stock-index futures fell as the International Monetary Fund slashed its growth forecast for the world's largest economy and investors speculated a government report will show that factory orders dropped for a second month.

Hewlett-Packard and General Motors declined in Germany. A slump in European automakers weighed on the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index, which briefly gave up earlier gains.

Futures indicated that US stocks will retreat after the Standard & Poor's 500 Index yesterday had its best start to a second quarter in 70 years. The benchmark for American equities posted its worst quarterly performance since 2002 in the January-to-March period.