Asian stocks rise

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose, driving a regional benchmark to a third straight record, after business confidence unexpectedly held near a two-year high in Japan and Singapore home loans grew at the fastest pace since March 2005.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index added 0.1 per cent to 163.42 as of 6:50 pm in Tokyo. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 0.4 percent. Shares fell in Australia, while other regional markets rose. Hong Kong and China were shut for holidays.

The Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index was the region's best-performing benchmark, surging 2.9 per cent after Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled that President Pervez Musharraf will be able to seek a second five-year term in an October 6 election.

Samsung Securities climbed after Prudential Investment & Securities recommended investors buy brokerages in South Korea.

Europe

European stock-index futures declined after UBS AG, the region's biggest bank by assets, posted a third-quarter loss after writing down the value of mortgage- backed securities.

Credit Suisse Group may fall after the Swiss bank said a slump in credit markets hurt earnings at its investment banking and asset management units. Commerzbank AG may retreat after UBS analysts recommended investors reduce their holdings in Germany's second-largest bank.

US

US stock-index futures climbed before a report that may signal economic growth is slowing, fueling speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again this year.

Lehman Brothers Holdings, the fourth-biggest US securities firm, gained in Europe. Navteq Corp, a maker of navigation software, jumped after the Wall Street Journal said Nokia Oyj is in talks to buy the company.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December added 2.7 to 1,540.8 as of 11:09 am in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 4 to 13,998. Nasdaq-100 Index futures gained 0.75 to 2,114.75.

"A cut in rates would be helpful for the markets,'' said Han De Jong, chief economist at ABN Amro Bank NV in Amsterdam, which manages the equivalent of $250 billion. Investors believe "that either the economic problems will go away by themselves, or the Fed will make them go away.''