Asian stocks (MXAP) rose, extending the biggest weekly gain since August 2007, as the euro and oil advanced after Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti introduced a proposal to cut his nation’s debt.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.2 percent as of 1:11 p.m. in Tokyo, adding to the 8 percent surge last week. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures gained 0.8 percent. The euro added 0.2 percent to $1.3416, while the yen fell against most of its 16 major counterparts. Oil climbed for a second day to $101.48 a barrel. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index retreated 0.6 percent.
Monti will present the plan, designed to reduce the euro- region’s second-biggest debt, to policy makers in Rome today. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is scheduled to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy to advance a plan for stricter enforcement of the region’s deficit rules that will be presented to European Leaders at a summit on Dec. 9.
“Everything points in the direction of something big coming out of this week’s meeting,” said Khoon Goh, head of market economics and strategy at ANZ National Bank Ltd. in Wellington. “In the early part of this week we will continue to see risk appetite improve.”
S&P 500 futures expiring in December climbed to 1,252.90. Treasuries fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note up three basis points to 2.07 percent. Service industries in the U.S. probably expanded in November at the fastest pace in six months, a sign the economy is accelerating in the final months of 2011, economists said before a report today.
Uranium Exports
The Shanghai Composite (SHCOMP) has fallen for the past four weeks and tumbled 16 percent this year. A purchasing managers’ index of non-manufacturing industries for November fell to 49.7 from 57.7 the previous month, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said on Dec. 3. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
About the same number of stocks rose and fell in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 0.6 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.1 percent.
Energy Resources of Australia Ltd., a uranium producer controlled by Rio Tinto Group, rallied 11 percent for the biggest advance in the S&P/ASX 200. (AS51) Deep Yellow Ltd. (DYL), which explores for uranium, jumped 6.9 percent. Australia, holder of the world’s biggest uranium reserves, cleared a political hurdle to supplying India with the nuclear fuel after the governing Labor Party voted yesterday to end an export ban.
Asian Growth
“If you look at the whole world and where is the growth coming from, clearly it’s still coming from Asia,” Joseph Tan, Singapore-based chief economist for Asia at Credit Suisse Group AG’s private-banking division, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “A lot of companies are still producing very decent earnings.”
The euro extended its first weekly climb against the dollar in more than a month. A proposal to channel European Central Bank loans through the International Monetary Fund may deliver as much as 200 billion euros ($268 billion) to fight the crisis, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
Oil for January delivery rose as much as 0.8 percent to $101.73 a barrel. Iran said oil will breach $250 a barrel if nations threaten to ban its purchases, according to the Shargh newspaper. Iran pumped 5 percent of the world’s oil last year, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review of World Energy.
The cost of insuring Asia-Pacific corporate and sovereign bonds against non-payment declined. The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 40 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan fell 7 basis points to 195 basis points, Credit Agricole SA prices show. The benchmark is set for its lowest close since Nov. 8, according to data provider CMA.
To contact the reporters on this story: Lynn Thomasson in Hong Kong at lthomasson@bloomberg.net; Candice Zachariahs in Sydney at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net
