Asian stocks rose after falling the most in six months and copper gained on optimism over earnings and as German manufacturing data improved. The Australian dollar fell after the country’s trade deficit more than doubled. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) added 0.3 percent as of 3:04 p.m. in Tokyo, after tumbling 2.3 percent yesterday. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average advanced 0.7 percent. Euro Stoxx 50 Index futures and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures were little changed. Copper rallied 0.8 percent, the first advance in four days. The Australian dollar weakened 0.1 percent against the U.S. currency after the country’s trade deficit widened to the biggest in almost 2 ½ years. Mitsubishi Corp. (8058), Japan’s biggest trading house, reported profit that topped estimates and Capcom Co., a maker of video- game software, predicted higher earnings. German factory orders rose more than forecast in March as demand from outside the euro area helped the country weather the debt crisis, according to data yesterday, while figures today may show the nation’s industrial output climbed. “Fundamentals are still looking pretty solid and pretty strong,� Kelvin Tay, chief investment strategist at UBS Wealth Management in Singapore, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. UBS AG has 1.5 trillion francs ($1.6 trillion) in client assets. “Yesterday was a knee-jerk reaction. It’s not sustainable.� Almost two stocks rose for each that fell on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.5 percent, while the BSE India Sensitive Index dropped 0.2 percent. Corporate Earnings Mitsubishi gained 3.7 percent after reporting full-year net profit of 500 billion yen ($6.3 billion), topping the average 479.1 billion yen estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Capcom jumped 5.3 percent in Tokyo after saying full-year net income will increase 46 percent. Honda Motor Co., Japan’s third-biggest carmaker, added 2.2 percent after Credit Suisse Group AG recommended buying the shares. Iluka Resources Ltd. (ILU), the world’s biggest zircon producer, tumbled 12 percent in Sydney after cutting its output forecast for the mineral used to produce ceramics. The so-called Aussie traded 0.7 percent away from this year’s low. Australia’s deficit widened more than estimated in March to A$1.587 billion ($1.62 billion) as imports outpaced export growth. The government will announce its budget for the year starting July 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Canberra. “The factors that supported the Australian dollar are peeling away,� said Yoshisada Ishide, a fund manager at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. in Tokyo. “Markets understand that Australia’s government can’t take stimulus measures and that it has to rely on monetary policy� to support growth. Greek Meeting New Zealand’s dollar weakened 0.1 percent. The currency declined for a seventh day as investors sold high-yielding currencies before a meeting of Greek political leaders to form a new government, after an election raised questions about the country’s membership of the euro bloc. The euro retreated 0.1 percent to $1.3034 and yesterday touched $1.2955, the weakest level since Jan. 25. Greek political leaders will meet for a second day in a bid to form a government. The mandate for the task is being handed to the second-biggest party, after New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said he failed to forge agreement. The won strengthened 0.3 percent to 1,135.53 per dollar after consumer borrowing in the U.S. surged in March by the most in more than a decade on growing demand for educational financing and autos. Credit rose by $21.4 billion, the biggest gain since November 2001, to $2.54 trillion, Federal Reserve figures showed yesterday. The cost of insuring Asia-Pacific bonds from default declined, according to traders of credit-default swaps. The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 40 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan dropped four basis points to 169 basis points, Credit Agricole SA prices show. To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Frost in Hong Kong at rfrost4@bloomberg.net; Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net

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