Asian stocks advanced for a third day after JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s earnings topped estimates and Posco raised its profit forecast. Treasuries and the dollar fell as investors sought higher-yielding assets. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. climbed 1.4 percent on speculation bank earnings will increase. Posco, Asia’s third- largest steelmaker, gained 4.5 percent in Seoul as its forecast signaled higher demand for the raw material. Elpida Memory Inc. rose 4.4 percent after posting its first operating profit in eight quarters. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. advanced 1 percent as crude-oil prices climbed to a one-year high. “Investors are putting more money into equities in anticipation of further improvements in economic data and corporate earnings,” said Michiya Tomita, who helps manage $61 billion at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. in Hong Kong. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1 percent to 121.23 as of 1:44 p.m. in Tokyo, heading for its highest close since Sept. 8, 2008. The gauge has climbed 73 percent from a more than five- year low on March 9 amid increasing signs stimulus measures around the world are reviving the global economy. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 1.5 percent as Elpida climbed and Credit Suisse Group AG advised buying shares of Panasonic Corp., the world’s largest maker of plasma televisions. Taiwan’s Taiex index added 0.4 percent with Acer Inc. rising to a nine year high. South Korea’s Kospi Index added 0.4 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.8 percent. All markets in Asia advanced, apart from Thailand. JPMorgan Earnings Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index increased less than 0.1 percent. The gauge rose 1.8 percent yesterday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 10,000 for the first time in a year, following JPMorgan’s earnings and a better-than- estimated retail sales report. Speculation the global recovery is on track caused investors to pare holdings of the U.S. currency and Treasuries today in favor of higher-yielding assets such as Asian equities. The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the currencies of six major U.S. trading partners, sank 0.4 percent to 75.278, the lowest since August 2008. The yield on the 10- year Treasury note rose two basis points to 3.43 percent, according to BGCantor Market Data. Financial companies led yesterday’s rally in U.S. stocks after JPMorgan posted earnings per share of 82 cents, while analysts had forecast 51 cents. Investment-banking revenue from fixed income jumped to a record $5 billion as Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon capitalized on his 2008 acquisition of Bear Stearns Cos. Seven-Month Rally Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. were among the biggest casualties of the credit crisis that has caused more than $1.6 trillion of losses at the world’s biggest financial companies. Finance shares are the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s best-performing group in the rally since March as concerns eased about the health of the industry. Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan’s largest bank by market value, advanced 1.4 percent to 492 yen. Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. the country’s fifth-biggest, climbed 4.9 percent to 493 yen. “The news out of the U.S., particularly companies such as JPMorgan, is boosting sentiment and banks are likely to be at the center of a move by investors back into the market,” said Kazuhiro Takahashi, a general manager at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. in Tokyo. Japan’s Financial Services Minister Shizuka Kamei said yesterday a plan to provide debt relief to small borrowers will be covered by government guarantees against default, the Nikkei newspaper said, lessening the burden on the nation’s lenders. Confidence Survey In Seoul, Posco climbed 4.5 percent to 538,000 won after lifting its operating profit forecast for 2009 by 23 percent yesterday amid signs steel demand is recovering. The World Steel Association said on Oct 12. that the global market will rebound 9.2 percent next year. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s seven-month rally has outpaced gains by the S&P 500 Index and Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index. Stocks in the Asian benchmark are valued at 23 times estimated earnings, compared with 18 times for the S&P and 16 times for the Stoxx 600. Investor sentiment has slipped in New York, London and Tokyo after the global rally in equities pushed valuations on the MSCI World Index of 23 developed-equity markets to the highest level since 2003, according to the Bloomberg Professional Confidence Survey. Australian Rate Increase Australia Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens said the central bank can’t be too timid in raising its benchmark interest rate now that the threat of an economic crisis in the nation has passed. Stevens became the first Group of 20 central banker to increase borrowing costs when he unexpectedly boosted the overnight cash rate target last week by a quarter percentage point to 3.25 percent from a half-century low. Elpida, Japan’s biggest computer-memory chipmaker, rose 4.4 percent to 1,278 yen. Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, was 500 million yen ($5.6 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, the company said in a preliminary earnings statement today. Elpida reported a 24.5 billion yen loss a year earlier. Panasonic rose 2.6 percent to 1,262 yen as Credit Suisse raised its recommendation to “outperform” from “neutral,” citing the company’s low valuations and strong balance sheet. Woodside, Australia’s second-largest oil producer, added 1 percent to A$53.15. Inpex Corp., Japan’s largest energy exploration company, gained 2.6 percent to 787,000 yen. Crude oil rose above $75 a barrel in New York for the first time in a year. The London Metals Index, a measure of six metals including copper and zinc, added 0.9 percent yesterday. China, Thailand In China, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3 percent as new lending expanding last month and the central bank said money supply grew at a record in September. Bank of Communications Ltd. added 1.5 percent to 8.88 yuan, while Industrial Bank Co. gained 2.5 percent to 37.98 yuan. Acer climbed 1.2 percent to NT$82.70 to a nine-year high in Taipei after it overlook Dell Inc. to be the second biggest in the global personal-computer market last quarter, according to market research firms IDC and Gartner Inc. Thailand’s SET Index fell 2.4 percent, a third day of declines. Speculation that King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s health had deteriorated helped spark the biggest drop in the benchmark stock index in two months yesterday and the biggest decline since June in the baht. The King’s “general condition is good,” the royal household said. To contact the reporters for this story: Adam Haigh in Hong Kong at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net; Jonathan Burgos in Singapore at jburgos4@bloomberg.net.

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