Asian stocks move up

GLOBAL MARKETS/ STOCK REPORT

Asian stocks rose the most in three weeks, after record customer growth boosted profit at China Mobile and as Citic Securities agreed to buy a stake in Bear Stearns.

"In China, for most of the large caps, earnings growth is staggering,'' said Shun-Tak Pang, executive director at JPMorgan Private Bank, which oversees $440 billion of global client assets. "For the Asia market, the biggest driver is economic growth.''

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and National Australia Bank led gains by banks on speculation the $1 billion investment in Bear Stearns, the securities firm hit hardest by the collapse of the US subprime mortgage market, will bolster confidence in financial companies.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 3.5 per cent, rebounding from its biggest decline in seven years.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index climbed 1.5 per cent to 164.52 as of 7:56 pm in Tokyo, its biggest gain since October 2.

Rating upgrade
Posco gained after Seoul Securities raised its recommendation on the stock, helping South Korea's Kospi Index to a 2.3 per cent advance.

Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest publicly traded lender, rose 1.9 per cent to 1,046 yen. Mizuho Financial Group, the second largest, gained 0.7 per cent to 621,000 yen.

Enough confidence
China Mobile gained 5.3 per cent to a new high of HK$149.70 in Hong Kong. The Beijing-based company said third-quarter net income rose 38 per cent from a year earlier to 22 billion yuan ($2.9 billion), after it added 48.4 million users in the first nine months of the year.

US
US stock-index futures rose after earnings reports from Apple and American Express eased concern that declining home values and credit-market losses have curbed consumer spending. Apple, maker of the iPod and iPhone, rallied in Europe after saying profit jumped 67 per cent.

American Express, the third-largest US credit card network, gained after the company reported earnings that beat analysts' estimates.

Companies in the S&P 500, that have reported third-quarter results, posted an average profit gain of 1.2 per cent, beating the 0.6 per cent decline estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey on October 19.

Including Apple and American Express, 145 members of the S&P 500 have released quarterly results so far.