Stocks gained for a third day after German and French leaders said they’re certain Greece will remain in the euro zone. The shared currency weakened against the dollar before debt sales by Spain and France, while U.S. futures, oil and gold retreated. The MSCI All-Country World Index added 0.5 percent at 8:08 a.m. in London and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.7 percent. Gains were capped after UBS AG (UBSN) said it made a trading loss of about $2 billion. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures declined 0.3 percent after a three-day rally. The euro lost 0.2 percent to $1.3733. The New Zealand dollar sank after the central bank kept interest rates unchanged. Gold slid 0.6 percent and oil slipped 0.8 percent in New York. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said they’re convinced Greece will remain in the euro area. Spain plans to sell as much as 4 billion euros ($5.5 billion) of bonds today. Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Alan Bollard said there is now a greater risk the global economy will slow “sharply,” while data today may show U.S. inflation eased and industrial production stalled. “We’re seeing some ‘risk-on’ trading on hopes that the European issue will be pushed further down the road,” said Belinda Allen, senior analyst of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management in Sydney, which oversees about $150 billion. “Despite the comments from the French and German leaders, Europe still has a lot of issues to work through that will impact markets over coming months.” Stocks Climb About 13 shares rose for every one that fell on the Stoxx 600. UBS dropped as much as 9.6 percent after the biggest Swiss lender said it may book a loss in the third quarter. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou yesterday committed to meet deficit-reduction targets demanded as a condition for an international bailout, according to statements distributed by Athens and Paris. Sarkozy and Merkel “are convinced that the future of Greece is in the euro zone,” the French statement said, easing concern that the monetary union may fall apart. European equity markets closed before the statement was released. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.9 percent, after sinking 1.7 percent yesterday to close at the lowest level since Aug. 25, 2010. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 1.8 percent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 1.7 percent and Taiwan’s Taiex Index rallied 2.2 percent. Greece’s Future Elpida Memory Inc. jumped 5 percent in Tokyo after the chipmaker said it may shift some production from its plant in Hiroshima, Japan, to Taiwan as part of its plans to cope with a strong yen and an industry slump. Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (000660) rose 6.3 percent in Seoul and Powerchip Technology Corp. surged 5.9 percent in Taipei. The price of DDR3 2-gigabit dynamic random- access memory jumped 8.9 percent at yesterday’s close, the most since Jan. 28, according to data by TrendForce Corp.’s DRAMExchange. The S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent yesterday, rounding off a three-day, 3 percent rally. U.S. data today may show consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in August from July, when inflation was at 0.5 percent, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Industrial production probably posted no growth last month, a separate survey showed. Treasury 10-year yields increased one basis point to 2 percent. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said yesterday “there is no chance that the major countries of Europe will let their institutions be at risk in the eyes of the market.” He is scheduled to attend a session of the European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Wroclaw, Poland for the first time. Zhang Xiaoqiang, a vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said China is willing to buy bonds of nations hit by the debt crisis. Debt Auctions The euro slipped 0.1 percent to 105.25 yen after yesterday snapping four days of losses against Japan’s currency. The auction by Spain today comes two days after Italy’s borrowing costs surged at a bill sale. France will also offer securities maturing in 2013, 2014 and 2016 and is preparing to auction inflation-linked bonds due in 2019 and 2022. The kiwi fell as New Zealand’s central bank kept its official cash rate at a record-low 2.5 percent today, a decision predicted by all 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Crude for October delivery decreased 0.8 percent to $88.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures sank 1.4 percent yesterday. Gasoline stockpiles rose 1.94 million barrels last week, the biggest gain since June, according to the Energy Department. Immediate-delivery gold retreated 0.6 percent to $1,808.38 an ounce, bound for a second day of losses. To contact the reporters on this story: Shiyin Chen in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net; Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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