Asian Stocks Advance on Greek Debt Talks Progress, Toyota Profit
February 08, 2012, 8:18 PM ESTBy Sarah Jones and Yoshiaki Nohara
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose for a third day as Greece’s government edged closer to securing a bailout package and Toyota Motor Corp. raised its profit forecast. Chinese shares rallied ahead reports tomorrow that are expected to show inflation easing.
Toyota rallied 5 percent in Tokyo after Asia’s largest carmaker raised its earnings outlook by 11 percent as new models boosted sales. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and PetroChina Co. climbed in Hong Kong after China raised fuel prices for the first time in 10 months. Rio Tinto Group gained 1.1 percent in Sydney.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 1.3 percent to 126.54 as of 7:40 p.m. in Tokyo, on track for the highest close since August. All major stock indexes in the region, with the exception of Sri Lanka’s Colombo All-Share Index, increased.
“The Greek debt situation will be resolved in some shape or form, which will provide certainty,” said Tim Schroeders, who helps manage $1 billion in equities at Pengana Capital Ltd. in Melbourne. “By eliminating part of that downside risk, people are more comfortable in allocating toward risk assets.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.1 percent and the broader Topix Index added 1.2 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index all rallied 1.5 percent.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index advanced 2.4 percent amid speculation that inflation reports tomorrow will show price gains slowing, giving the government more room to ease monetary policy. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.4 percent and South Korea’s Kospi Index advanced 1.1 percent.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed today. The benchmark gauge rose 0.2 percent yesterday, recouping losses of as much as 0.6 percent, as Greece made progress on measures to secure international aid.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos postponed a meeting with heads of political parties supporting his government a second time in as many days as he continued to haggle with international creditors over terms to secure aid.
Troika Meeting
Papademos instead met with the so-called troika, comprising the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to put the final touches on terms required for a 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) rescue package, a spokeswoman said. He will meet with the leaders of the political parties in Athens today.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index extended a five-month high yesterday, rising 0.1 percent. The gauge climbed 9.8 percent this year through yesterday as U.S. economic data added to optimism the world’s largest economy can withstand the fallout from Europe’s debt crisis.
Toyota rallied 5 percent, its biggest increase in almost 11 months, to 3,135 yen after the carmaker raised its profit forecast to 200 billion yen ($2.6 billion). The company is planning to roll out 19 new models in the U.S. en route to a record number of global vehicle sales in 2012.
BYD’s Surge
BYD Co., the Chinese carmaker partly owned by Warren Buffett, jumped 9.5 percent to HK$28.35 in Hong Kong after BNP Paribas SA said sales of the company’s new sport-utility vehicle likely rose to a record in January. BNP raised its price estimate for the shares to HK$22.50 from HK$15. The company has gained 65 percent so far this year, the second-biggest advance among the 1,004 members of the MSCI Asia Pacific Index after India’s Reliance Infrastructure Ltd.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., Asia’s biggest oil refiner, rallied 1.8 percent to HK$9.45. PetroChina Co., the world’s No. 3 company by market value after Apple Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp., rose 2.2 percent to HK$11.86 after the nation raised domestic fuel tariffs to spur production by refiners.
Rio Tinto, which is scheduled to report earnings tomorrow, climbed 1.1 percent to A$71.76. The world’s third-largest mining company and partners have approved a $3.4 billion expansion of its iron ore operations in Western Australia in a bid to boost output by more than 50 percent.
BHP Billiton
Larger rival, BHP Billiton Ltd. slid 0.4 percent to A$37.75 in Sydney. The company reported a 5.5 percent drop in first-half profit to $9.9 billion as rising costs combined with lower output and prices halved base-metal earnings. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $10 billion.
Panasonic Corp. gained 3.3 percent to 657 yen, Fujitsu Ltd. increased 2.9 percent to 391 yen and Renesas Electronics Corp. surged 10 percent to 556 yen after the Nikkei reported all three companies are in talks to join their system chip operations. The newspaper did not cite anyone.
Elpida Memory Inc. jumped 9.4 percent to 373 yen. The Nikkei reported the company is looking to make its main base for PC DRAM in Taiwan. The newspaper also reported Elpida is in talks with Globalfoundries to sell its Hiroshima plant, without citing anyone.
Of the 337 companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific gauge that have reported net income since Jan. 9, more than half missed analysts’ estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
--Editors: John McCluskey, Nick Gentle
To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Jones in Sydney at sjones35@bloomberg.net; Yoshiaki Nohara in Tokyo at ynohara1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Gentle at ngentle2@bloomberg.net
