Asian stocks reverse 4-day fall

STOCK REPORT

Asian stocks rebounded from four days of losses after Sony Corp. met its PlayStation 3 shipment targets and Australia's Alinta Ltd. received a buyout offer.

"It's a natural correction to the recent big losses,'' said Yoo Byung Ok, who oversees about $2.1 billion in equities at Mirae Asset Investment Management Co. in Seoul. Earnings growth "won't be bad and the market could reflect that.''

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index climbed 0.5 per cent to 139.69 as of 5:35 p.m. in Tokyo, halting a four-day, 1.8 percent drop. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed 0.9 per cent higher at 17,237.77, while the broader Topix index added 1 percent. Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand were the region's only markets to decline.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index jumped 3.2 percent to a record, outpacing gains elsewhere in Asia. China Life Insurance Co. more than doubled on its Shanghai trading debut, fuelling an advance by financial companies.

Samsung Electronics Co, BHP Billiton and Nippon Steel Corp. gained on speculation recent declines were excessive given the outlook for earnings.

Sony, the world's biggest maker of video-game consoles, jumped 6.5 percent to 5,550 yen. The Tokyo-based company said it shipped 1 million PlayStation 3s by diverting parts meant for its Blu-ray DVD players to the consoles.

Alinta, Australia's biggest energy transmission company, jumped 13 percent to A$12.63. The company, valued at A$6.2 billion ($4.8 billion), received a management buyout proposal backed by Macquarie Bank Ltd. in what would be the country's largest utility buyout. Australian mergers and acquisitions in energy and related industries amounted to $41.8 billion last year, almost quadruple the value in 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Americas
US stock-index futures climbed as oil prices plunged to the lowest since 2005, helping to contain inflation, reduce companies' costs and encourage spending.

"The inflationary concerns will be lessened with a drop in the price of energy and the consumer spending patterns we will see going forward can only be helped by that,'' said Barry Hyman, who helps manage about $400 million as an equity strategist at EKN Financial Services Inc. in Woodbury, New York. ``You have to view this as positive for the market.''

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in March added 2 to 1424.5 as of 9:04 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 28 to 12,520 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures increased 4 to 1807.5.

Europe
European stocks gained for the first time in five days after crude oil dropped below $55 a barrel in New York. BASF AG and British Airways Plc led an advance by companies that benefit from lower energy costs.

"The falling oil price is good news for the indebted consumer, global inflation and certain sectors of the market'' including transportation, retail and chemical stocks, said Rupert Cecil, who helps manage $13.4 billion as head of U.K. equities at Kleinwort Benson in London. "It should help investor sentiment in what may prove to be a difficult start to 2007 for equities.''

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index added 0.4 percent to 366.95 at 1:10 p.m. in London. The Stoxx 50 increased 0.3 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the 13 nations sharing the euro, climbed 0.4 percent.

National benchmarks rose in 17 of the 18 western European markets. The UK's FTSE 100 added 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX advanced 0.5 per cent. France's CAC 40 added 0.4 per cent.