Asia Stocks Rise on Retail Sales

Friday, June 12, 2009

Asian stocks rose, set for a fourth- straight weekly gain, on signs consumer spending in the region and the U.S. is improving and after new lending in China doubled.

Li & Fung Ltd., the biggest supplier of clothes and toys to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., jumped 6.2 percent after retail sales in the U.S. and China increased. Aeon Co., Japan’s biggest supermarket operator, soared 8.3 percent in Tokyo as Japanese consumer confidence climbed. China Construction Bank Corp., the nation’s second-largest lender, rose 2.9 percent in Hong Kong as new loans jumped in May. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. slipped 3.2 percent amid concern new listings in China will flood the market with new shares.

“There is a general sense that the worst has passed,” said Matt Riordan, who helps manage about $3.2 billion at Paradice Investment Management in Sydney. “As things recover in the U.S., people will start buying imported products again, and that also flows through into resources.”

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2 percent to 105.23 as of 7:13 p.m. in Tokyo, the highest since Oct. 2 and bringing its three-day climb to 3.1 percent. The gauge added 1.9 percent on the week, its fourth-straight gain, after Australian consumer confidence jumped by the most in 22 years and fixed-asset investment in China accelerated.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 1.6 percent, closing above 10,000 for the first time since Oct. 7. Stocks also climbed in South Korea and New Zealand. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.4 percent to the highest since Nov. 10.

Chinese shares fell the most in almost two months after the 21st Century Business Herald newspaper reported the securities regulator will approve initial public offerings as early as this weekend.


(Bloomberg)