By Jonathan Burgos and Shani Raja July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks advanced, lifting a regional benchmark index to a 10-month high, after oil and metal prices gained and U.S. housing starts unexpectedly rose. Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s largest producer of the metal, surged 5.7 percent in Shanghai, while James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., rose 5.6 percent in Sydney. China Life Insurance Co. climbed 3.7 percent in Hong Kong as regulators said first-half profit at the nation’s insurers almost doubled. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. surged 15 percent in Mumbai after the company reported earnings that beat analyst estimates. “The data is showing that things are passed their worst,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “If we’ve seen a bottom, and things continue to improve in the second half, it just may be enough to buoy earnings.” The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index added 2.2 percent to 340.66 as of 2:06 p.m. in Hong Kong, set to close at its highest level since Sept. 26. Japan is closed for a holiday. The MSCI gauge has rallied 25 percent in the past three months amid optimism stimulus policies around the world will revive the global economy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 2.4 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi Index climbed 2.7 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX Index gained 1.3 percent. Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said withdrawing stimulus from the nation’s economy before the global recession unfolds would be both premature and “very risky.” Commodities Demand Wharf Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong landlord and port operator, jumped 5.4 percent after Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted share its price target. SM Prime Holdings Inc., the largest Philippine shopping mall operator, gained 2.2 percent after saying it may accelerate expansion plans in China. Tenaga Nasional Bhd., Malaysia’s state-controlled utility company, climbed 3.7 percent after CIMB Investment Bank Bhd. upgraded its rating. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.4 percent. The gauge slipped less than 0.1 percent in New York on July 17, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4 percent. Construction of single-family dwellings jumped by the most since 2004, the government reported the same day. The data fueled speculation that demand for commodities will rise, sending copper futures in New York up by 1.4 percent on July 17, while oil jumped 2.5 percent. Copper rose 1.5 percent in trading today and oil added 0.8 percent. Jiangxi Copper jumped 5.7 percent to 42.20 yuan. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company and Australia’s biggest oil company, gained 2.6 percent to A$36.11. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s No. 3 mining company, climbed 2.4 percent to A$53.76. Patent Infringement James Hardie, which derives 79 percent of its sales from the U.S., climbed 5.6 percent to A$4.33. Samsung Electronics Co., which gets 19 percent of its revenue in America, added 3 percent to 690,000 won. The company settled a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by the California Institute of Technology over digital cameras. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which includes Japan, last week had its biggest weekly advance since May as government reports showed economic growth accelerated in China and U.S. manufacturing improved. Intel Corp. forecast sales that beat analyst estimates, while International Business Machines Corp. raised its profit estimate. Stocks on that MSCI gauge are valued at an average 43 times reported earnings, up from the 15 times shares were trading at during the market’s trough in March. Companies on the S&P 500 are currently at 15 times profit. China Life China Life, the nation’s No. 1 insurer, climbed 3.7 percent to HK$31.95 as the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said the country’s insurers may post a 98 percent increase in first- half profit to 26.1 billion yuan. The regulator didn’t specify if the figure was for net income. The stock also gained as Citic Securities Co. raised its 2009 earnings growth estimate for companies listed in China to 14 percent from an earlier 9 percent. “Earnings expectations are starting to creep up,” said Chris Weston, an institutional dealer at IG Markets in Melbourne. “We’ve clearly still got some pain to come, but things are getting less bad.” China reported last week that its gross domestic product grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter, beating the 7.8 percent median forecast of 20 economists in a Bloomberg survey. A 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package and the scrapping of lending restrictions for banks helped trigger the revival in the world’s third-largest economy. Largest Stock Market The country’s stock market may surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest by value in three years as state-owned companies sell new shares and the nation’s 1.4 billion people put more of their money into equities, Mark Mobius, who oversees $25 billion of emerging-market assets at Templeton Asset Management Ltd., told Bloomberg Television in London. SM Prime gained 2.2 percent to 9.40 pesos. The company is planning to build as many as three malls a year in China, Hans Sy, president of SM Prime, said in a Bloomberg interview. Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy surged 15 percent to 497 rupees. The software provider reported a 23 percent increased in net income for the three months ended June 30 that was more than analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated. The company is seeing increased demand from financial clients Chief Executive Officer Subramanian Ramadorai said. In Hong Kong, Wharf jumped 5.4 percent to HK$34.05. Macquarie raised its share-price estimate by 25 percent to HK$42.50 and maintained its “outperform” rating on the stock, saying the company’s land reserves in China will deliver returns for shareholders. ‘Strong Momentum’ Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd., the flagship company of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, climbed 4.3 percent to HK$96.35. Citigroup Inc. lifted its price target for the stock to HK$107.84 from HK$96.53, saying the company, Hong Kong’s second- largest developer, will benefit from the “strong momentum” in the city’s property market. “Central banks all over the world were pumping money into the monetary system in the first half, as a result, abundant short-term liquidity spurred new loans and fueled the property market,” said Winson Fong, who helps manage about $2 billion at SG Asset Management H.K. Ltd. “Cheung Kong has got a new development up for sale, it’s a trigger for them compared with other developers who don’t have new sales.” In Singapore, City Developments Ltd., the second-biggest homebuilder in the city-state, gained 2.8 percent to S$9.46. The company has sold between 50 and 60 units of an 85-unit luxury residential condominium project at about S$2,000 ($1,380) per square foot, the Business Times newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information. Baltic Dry Shares of shipping companies advanced after the Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of shipping commodities, rose 1.2 percent in London on July 17, taking a four-day gain to 19 percent. STX Pan Ocean Ltd., South Korea’s biggest bulk carrier, gained 5 percent to 11,500 won in Seoul. Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest bulk shipping company, rose 3 percent to HK$5.58. China Cosco Holdings Co., the world’s biggest operator of dry-bulk ships, jumped 8.7 percent to 17.70 yuan in Shanghai. Tenaga Nasional gained 3.7 percent to 8.5 ringgit in Kuala Lumpur. CIMB upgraded the stock to “trading buy” from “neutral.” To contact the reporter for this story: Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net; Shani Raja in Sydney at sraja4@bloomberg.net.

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