Asian stocks and the South Korean won rose as Premier Wen Jiabao said China’s government will do more to support economic growth. European equities, the euro and oil dropped ahead of inflation and confidence reports in the region. The MSCI Asia Pacific (MXAPJ) excluding Japan Index added 0.3 percent as of 8:02 a.m. in London, while the won gained 0.3 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 (SXXP) fell 0.2 percent after its longest stretch of weekly gains in more than two years. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures declined 0.3 percent. The euro weakened 0.2 percent to $1.2226 and 0.4 percent against the Japanese yen. Corn futures jumped to a 10-month high and soybeans rose to the highest since 2008. German government bonds rose, with two-year yields negative for a seventh day. Premier Wen said on a weekend tour of Sichuan province that while measures to stabilize growth are “bearing fruit,� difficulties may persist and the government will step up policy fine-tuning. Reports in Europe this week may show stagnating inflation and weakening confidence in the currency bloc. The European Central Bank has advocated imposing losses on senior bondholders of the most damaged Spanish banks, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions. “There remains significant capacity for China to stimulate further,� said George Boubouras, Melbourne-based head of investment strategy at the Australian wealth-management unit of UBS AG, which has about $1.5 trillion in assets under management. “This is not only from a monetary perspective, which includes further rate cuts or lowering the reserve ratio again, but also the ability for additional targeted fiscal stimulus.� ECB Proposal The euro traded 0.5 percent from its lowest level in two years after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hasn’t softened her stance on measures to stem debt contagion that’s prompted five euro states to seek international aid. ECB President Mario Draghi suggested to finance ministers on July 9 that senior creditors of troubled banks be involved in burden sharing in Spain, the Journal said. The ministers rejected the idea, according to the newspaper. Figures from the European Union’s statistics office today may show the annual rate of inflation in the euro area remained at 2.4 percent in June, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. That would be unchanged from an initial estimate on June 29 and the reading for May. A gauge of investor confidence in Germany, the currency bloc’s biggest economy, probably slid to minus 20 this month from minus 16.9 in June, a separate poll of economists showed. U.S. Crops Corn for December delivery climbed as much as 4.2 percent to $7.71 a bushel in Chicago, the highest for a most-active contract since Aug. 31. Soybeans for November delivery rose as much as 2.6 percent to $15.935 a bushel, the highest price since July 2008. Corn and soybean conditions as of July 8 were the worst for that date since a drought in 1988, and areas of moderate to extreme drought have expanded to 63 percent of the Midwest, U.S. government data show. Oil in New York fell 0.5 percent to $86.69 a barrel after rising 3.1 percent last week, while copper in London lost 0.2 percent to $7,683.25 a metric ton after gaining 2.2 percent. The Philippine Stock Exchange (PCOMP) Composite Index surged 1.4 percent after the central bank governor said the country has scope to further ease monetary policy. South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.3 percent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 0.6 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was little changed. Japanese markets are closed today for a public holiday. China Rates The Shanghai Composite Index slumped 1.7 percent to the lowest in more than six months. ZTE Corp. (763), the second-biggest maker of telecommunications equipment in China, plunged by 10 percent in Shenzhen after warning that first-half profit may have fallen as much as 80 percent. Suning Appliance Co., China’s biggest electronics retailer by market value, dropped to the lowest since March 2009 in Shenzhen after saying profit likely declined as much as 30 percent. China’s central bank may cut interest rates by as much as one percentage point in the coming year to spur lending, the swap market signals, as slowing industrial production and exports cool the economy. Asian stocks also rose before Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke presents his semi-annual report on the U.S. economic outlook to Congress this week. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), which gets more than a quarter of its sales from China, rose 1 percent in Sydney. Whitehaven Coal Ltd. (WHC) soared 18 percent after Australian mining magnate Nathan Tinkler offered to buy out the rest of the company. Daekyung Machinery & Engineering Co. (015590) fell 8.3 percent in Seoul after a shipmaker dropped its bid for the chemical machinery maker. U.S Earnings The S&P 500 added 0.2 percent last week after a 1.7 percent rally on July 13. Gains in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) tempered concern about earnings and the global economy. JPMorgan jumped 6.4 percent for the week as Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the bank may post record earnings for 2012 even after a $4.4 billion trading loss. Citigroup Inc. will release second-quarter earnings today and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Intel Corp. are due to announce results tomorrow. Four of the six S&P 500 companies that reported results last week beat forecasts, data compiled by Bloomberg show. U.S. retail sales rose 0.2 percent in June, the first gain in three months, according to a survey of economists ahead of the Commerce Department figures today. The increase would follow a 0.2 percent decline in May. Other data may show the cost of living was little changed and manufacturing accelerated. The cost of insuring bonds against non-payment declined. The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 40 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan slid three basis points to 161.5 basis points, according to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. The gauge is set for its lowest close since July 4, according to data provider CMA, which is owned by McGraw-Hill Cos. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in the privately negotiated market. To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Chua Baizhen in Beijing at bchua14@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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