BLBG:Asian Stocks Gain With Commodities on Stimulus Bets as Won Rises
Asian stocks rose as investors bet central banks around the world will continue stimulus measures to boost their economies. Oil and precious metals climbed while South Korea’s won gained the most in a month and the Australian dollar snapped three days of losses.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.7 percent at 1:00 p.m. in Hong Kong as Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) added 0.3 percent to the highest level since September 2008 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 1.3 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures were little changed. The S&P GSCI Index of 24 raw materials gained 0.3 percent as Brent crude strengthened 0.4 percent. The won advanced 0.7 percent against the U.S. dollar while the Aussie added 0.4 percent.
“The continued penchant for monetary largess by the major central banks around the world still does provide an unprecedented cushion,” said Benjamin Yeo, the Singapore-based head of Asian investment strategy at Barclays Plc’s wealth management unit, which has about $250 billion under management. “The risk-on mode will prevail for the remainder of 2013.”
Australia’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a half-century low today and reiterated it has room to cut further. The Bank of Japan must expand its monetary base, said Kikuo Iwata, a government nominee for deputy governor. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen yesterday said the U.S. central bank should press on with $85 billion in monthly bond buying while tracking possible costs and risks from the unprecedented program.
China Growth
Five stocks rose for every four that fell on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which capped a four-month advance in February, the longest such winning streak since September 2009. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.1 percent, after declining 3.7 percent yesterday. China maintained its economic-growth target at 7.5 percent for 2013 while setting a lower inflation goal of 3.5 percent, setting up a challenge for new leaders to keep prices in check without harming the expansion.
The median estimate of 43 analysts surveyed in February by Bloomberg News is for a pickup to 8.1 percent growth in 2013. The world’s second-largest economy expanded 7.8 percent last year, the weakest pace since 1999, as Europe’s debt crisis limited exports and government restrictions curbed the real- estate market.
South Korea’s won strengthened to 1,086.43 a dollar as exporters repatriated income following the currency’s biggest loss in a month yesterday. Government bonds fell, lifting the three-year yield from a record low.
Bond Yields
Japan’s 10-year government bond yield may test 0.5 percent this month as the Bank of Japan strengthens monetary stimulus, according to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. The 10-year yield fell as much as two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 0.585 percent today, the lowest since June 2003, according to Japan Bond Trading Co., the nation’s largest interdealer debt broker.
Australia’s dollar climbed to $1.0241 after Governor Glenn Stevens and his board left the overnight cash-rate target at 3 percent. The decision was predicted by 27 of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Two forecast a 0.25 percentage point cut.
Brent crude increased 0.4 percent to $110.55 a barrel in London while West Texas Intermediate futures added 0.2 percent in New York. Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,578.78 an ounce. Cash silver gained 0.3 percent to $28.65 an ounce, spot platinum climbed 0.5 percent to $1,576.25 an ounce, and palladium added 0.3 percent to $719 an ounce.
To contact the reporters on this story: Pratish Narayanan in Mumbai at pnarayanan9@bloomberg.net; Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net
