Results lift Asia stocks

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose the most in more than two weeks after Sharp Corp and drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo Co reported higher third-quarter profits and Rio Tinto group posted record net income.

"The earnings trend is doing quite well" and exceeding company forecasts, said Masaki Iso, who oversees about $7.3 billion as head of Japanese equities at Yasuda Asset Management Co in Tokyo.

Toyota Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co led exporters higher after the US Federal Reserve said inflation was easing and a report showed the world's biggest economy grew at its fastest pace in a year.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index added 1.1 per cent to 142.17 at 5:45 pm in Tokyo, set for its biggest jump since January 15. A measure of telecommunications companies posted the biggest gain as all 10 industry groups on the benchmark advanced.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.8 per cent to 17,519.50, closing at the highest since April 7. Stocks also gained after the Nikkei newspaper said analysts forecast the nation's gross domestic product in the last quarter expanded at a 3.7 per cent real annual rate.

China's Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index rose following a 6.5 per cent slide yesterday on concern the nation's shares are overvalued. Benchmarks elsewhere in the region advanced, except in New Zealand. Malaysia's market is closed today for a holiday.

US

US stock-index futures rose before reports that will probably show Americans earned and spent more during the holiday season. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in March added 1.8 to 1444.8 as of 9:40 am in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures increased 20 to 12,680. Nasdaq-100 Index futures rose 4.0 to 1806.5. US stocks rallied on the last day in January, capping their longest stretch of monthly gains in more than a decade, after the Federal Reserve signalled the economy is growing and inflation remains tame.

Europe

European stocks advanced to a six-year high after the Federal Reserve said economic growth in the US, the region's biggest trading partner, is accelerating without generating faster inflation. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index advanced 1.1 per cent to 376.73 9:57 am in London, with all 18 industry groups gaining. The Stoxx 50 added 1 per cent and the Euro Stoxx 50, a measure for the 13 nations sharing the euro, rose 0.9 per cent.

Speculation that earnings growth is accelerating even as the global economy slows has pushed the Stoxx 600 to the highest since December 2000. So far 70 per cent of the Stoxx 50 companies that have reported earnings for the fourth-quarter have topped analysts' estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

National benchmarks rose in all 18 western European markets. The UK's FTSE 100 increased 1.1 per cent, Germany's DAX added 0.9 per cent and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.1 per cent.

BASF advanced 2.5 per cent to 75.75 euros. The world's largest chemical company generated more than 20 per cent of its revenue in North America in 2005.

GlaxoSmithKline, Europe's largest drugmaker, climbed 1.3 per cent to 1383 pence. Glaxo made more than a third of its sales in the US in 2005.

Shell added 2.3 per cent to 1,754 pence. The energy producer's profit climbed 21 per cent after higher crude oil prices outweighed production losses in Nigeria.