Asian stocks rose, extending a rally that has driven the MSCI World Index to a five-week high, on optimism the U.S. Treasury’s plan to remove banks’ toxic assets will revive economic growth. Treasuries fell for a fourth day. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest bank, jumped 5.8 percent after the U.S. said it will finance as much as $1 trillion in purchases of banks’ distressed assets. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil producer, added 4.7 percent after oil prices rose. Toyota Motor Corp., which gets 37 percent of its sales from North America, gained 2.6 percent in Tokyo after the yen weakened against the dollar. “The authorities are using their full armory here,” said Shane Oliver, Sydney-based head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors, which holds $85 billion. “History tells us that unless you deal with the bad debts after a banking crisis any recovery is going to be muted or delayed. The question is whether they’re doing enough.” The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1.3 percent to 83.33 at 12:55 p.m. in Tokyo, adding to a 3.4 percent gain yesterday. The gauge has rallied 18 percent from a five-year low on March 9 amid speculation the worst of the financial crisis is over. The MSCI World rose 0.5 percent to 834.41, the highest since Feb. 13. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 1.3 percent, taking its jump since March 9 to 20 percent. Gains of more than 20 percent indicate stocks have entered a bull market. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.5 percent. All markets advanced except Malaysia. Futures on the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.6 percent today. The gauge soared 7.1 percent in New York, the biggest advance since Oct. 28 and narrowing this year’s loss to 8.9 percent. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index advanced 3 percent to the highest close since Feb. 19. Purchasing Power Nippon Steel Corp. and JFE Holdings Inc., Japan’s two largest mills, added at least 2 percent after winning price cuts for hard coking coal. Macquarie Countrywide Trust, an Australian real estate investment trust, rallied 12 percent after saying it had sold five properties. OZ Minerals Ltd. plunged 9.3 percent in Sydney on concern a regulatory delay may derail a takeover bid of the company. The worldwide rally in stocks cut demand for government debt, sending 10-year Treasury notes down by 1/8, or $1.25 per $1,000 face amount, to 100 3/4. The Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will provide private investors with financing to buy illiquid loans and securities held by banks, the Treasury said yesterday. The Public-Private Investment Program will use up to $100 billion from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program enacted last year, giving the government “purchasing power” of $500 billion, which may double over time, the Treasury said. Finance Stocks Rally HSBC jumped 5.8 percent to HK$44.10 in Hong Kong. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest publicly traded bank, surged 4.5 percent to 535 yen. Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the country’s second-largest listed bank, rose 3.6 percent to 228 yen. The Treasury plan was the latest government response to the financial crisis that has hampered bank lending and dragged the global economy into what the World Bank estimates will be the first contraction in more than six decades. “It will remove the haze over U.S. banks’ balance sheets and stop investors from wondering which financial companies need more capital,” Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management Co., which oversees about $96 billion of assets. The Fed and the Bank of Japan both pledged on March 18 to buy government debt from banks to stimulate lending. The Bank of Japan will brief executives of 14 major banks today on its plans to provide subordinated loans to help them bolster capital, Nikkei English News reported. Oil Prices Surge An index of finance stocks on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.8 percent. The sub-index is the worst performer among the broader gauge’s 10 industry groups in the past 12 months, as credit losses worldwide swelled to more than $1.2 trillion. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, climbed 1 percent to A$35.43 in Sydney. KB Financial Group Inc., which controls South Korea’s largest bank, gained 4.6 percent to 35,105 won. South Korea’s government said it plans to spend a record 17.7 trillion won ($13 billion) on cash handouts, cheap loans, infrastructure and job training. Woodside climbed 4.7 percent to A$40.25. BHP Billiton Ltd., Australia’s largest oil producer, added 1.9 percent to A$33.94. Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil producer, advanced 2.6 percent to HK$8.25. In New York, crude-oil futures jumped 3.3 percent to $53.80 a barrel yesterday, the highest settlement since Nov. 28. Weaker Yen Toyota gained 2.6 percent to 3,130 yen, and Canon Inc., the world’s largest camera maker, rose 3.6 percent to 2,860 yen after the Japanese currency depreciated against the dollar to as much as 97.35 from 96.18 at the 3 p.m. close of stock trading in Tokyo yesterday. A weaker local currency boosts the value of overseas sales for Japanese companies. Nippon Steel, the world’s No. 2 producer of the alloy, advanced 2.6 percent to 276 yen, and rival JFE rose 2 percent to 2,255 yen. The companies negotiated a 57 percent cut in the price they pay BHP for hard coking coal, two industry executives with knowledge of the deal said. Macquarie Countrywide Trust, an Australian real estate investment trust, rallied 12 percent to 23.5 Australian cents after saying it sold five properties for A$92.6 million ($66 million). OZ Minerals, which agreed to a A$2.6 billion ($1.8 billion) takeover by China Minmetals Group, plunged 9.3 percent to 53.5 cents in Sydney, the sharpest slump on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. The Foreign Investment Review Board extended its probe of the takeover by state-owned Minmetals by as long as 90 days from March 24, OZ Minerals said yesterday.

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