By Patrick Chu and Satoshi Kawano Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks soared, led by shipping companies and commodity producers, oil rose near $82 a barrel and Asian bond risk declined to the lowest level since May 2008 on signs global economic growth will accelerate. The Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Index gained 1.4 percent to 123.77 at 2:08 p.m in Tokyo. South Korea’s won rose 0.9 percent to 1,144.30 per dollar, reaching a 15-month high. Crude oil for February delivery traded at $81.63 a barrel, up 12 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The International Monetary Fund will boost its forecast for global economic growth this year from 3.1 percent, because government efforts to prevent a wider financial crisis were successful, Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky said. The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, advanced for the first time in a month. A government report out later today in the U.S. is expected to show factory orders rose for a third straight month. “We can see from the positive U.S. economic data and rising commodity prices that there is a strong anticipation of a global self-sustaining recovery,” said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, a strategist at Tokyo-based SMBC Friend Securities Co. The Morgan Stanley Asia index advanced to a 16-month high. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.9 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were little changed. The gauge rose 1.6 percent in New York yesterday, the most since Nov. 9, after the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index rose to 55.9, the highest since April 2006. Readings greater than 50 signal expansion. Shipping Lines Gain STX Pan Ocean Co., South Korea’s biggest bulk carrier, climbed 4.9 percent to 11,750 won after the Baltic Dry Index jumped 4.5 percent yesterday, the first gain since Dec. 4. Nippon Yusen K.K., Japan’s biggest shipping line, gained 4.2 percent to 298 yen. The index rose 135 points to 3,140 points, on increased demand to haul iron ore, the biggest dry-bulk cargo. Iron ore accounted for 31 percent of all dry-bulk commodities transported at sea in the fourth quarter, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. Raw-material producers and energy companies accounted for 27 percent of the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s advance today. Mitsubishi Corp., a Japanese trading house that gets 39 percent of its sales from commodities, gained 4 percent to 2,411 yen. Korea Zinc Co. jumped 2.5 percent to 206,500 won. Copper Dips Copper dropped 0.4 percent to $7,470 a metric ton, snapping six days of gains, as Xstrata Plc reached a wage agreement at its Altonorte smelter in Chile. Striking workers at Codelco’s Chuquicamata mine are also likely to accept an improved offer, union spokesman Jaime Graz said by phone. The price jumped 9 percent from the close on Dec. 22 to yesterday on improving demand from China. General Motors Co., the largest overseas automaker in the country, said yesterday sales in the nation jumped 67 percent in 2009. SAIC Motor Corp., China’s biggest carmaker which has a joint venture with GM, and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ford Motor Co.’s China partner, posted record sales in 2009, the companies said. Emerging-market equity and bond funds closed 2009 with record annual inflows, EPFR Global said. Emerging-market equity funds received $64.5 billion while those investing in developing-nation bonds drew more than $8 billion, also an all- time high, EPFR said. The funds lost $67 billion in 2008. Rescue Measures The IMF plans to update its World Economic Outlook forecast this month with “more upbeat expectations,” Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky wrote on the IMF’s Web site yesterday. “The unprecedented scale and scope of the anti-crisis measures taken during the past year -- and the unprecedented degree of multilateral policy coordination involved in their design and implementation -- appear to have succeeded in averting a downturn of historic proportions,” Lipsky wrote. In emerging nations, the growth outlook “remains upbeat,” especially in Asia, he said. The cost of protecting Asia-Pacific corporate and sovereign bonds from non-payment fell, according to traders of credit- default swaps and CMA DataVision prices. The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 50 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan dropped 4.5 basis points to 91.5 basis points, the lowest since May 20, 2008, Barclays Plc and CMA prices show. The Markit iTraxx Japan index declined 4 basis points to 130 basis points, according to Morgan Stanley prices. Credit-default swap indexes are benchmarks for protecting bonds against default, and traders use them to speculate on credit quality. An increase suggests deteriorating perceptions of creditworthiness and a drop shows improvement. Yen Strengthens The yen rose for a second day against the dollar on speculation Japanese exporters bought their own currency to bring home overseas earnings and as technical charts signaled its recent slide was overdone. It rose to 91.73 per dollar in Tokyo from 92.50 in New York yesterday. It climbed to 132.29 per euro from 133.34. The dollar traded at $1.4423 per euro from $1.4413 in New York yesterday, when it fell to $1.4456, the lowest level since Dec. 29. “There’s talk of large-sized buying of yen by exporters,” said Tsutomu Soma, a bond and currency dealer at Okasan Securities Co. Ltd. in Tokyo. “There’s also sentiment that the yen’s slump in December was excessive, so the currency is being bought back.” To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Chu in Hong Kong at pachu@bloomberg.net. Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo at skawano1@bloomberg.net.

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