By Clyde Russell and Akiko Ikeda March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose for the third day in four, led by finance companies, while the yen gained versus 15 of 16 major counterparts on concern a rescue plan for Greece won’t provide loans large enough to resolve its deficit. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.3 percent to 123.12 as of 1:50 p.m. in Tokyo. The yen strengthened to 123.34 per euro in Tokyo from 123.83 in New York yesterday. Copper for three- month delivery climbed 0.8 percent to $7,360 a metric ton. The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, advanced 1.9 percent yesterday, its fourth consecutive increase. Standard & Poor’s 500 futures increased 0.1 percent. Investors have become more confident that central banks will sustain the global recovery. The Bank of Japan may expand a fund that provides loans to banks to increase during meetings today and tomorrow. Federal Reserve officials are expected to debate if the world’s largest economy has improved enough to end the policy of keeping interest rates “exceptionally low.” “Expectations for the BOJ to take additional measures for monetary easing have contributed to a gain in stocks,” said Naoteru Teraoka, general manager at Chuo Mitsui Asset Management Co. in Tokyo, which oversees $23 billion. Advancing stocks matched decliners on the MSCI Asia Index. Sony Financial Holdings Inc., the insurance and banking unit of Sony Corp., soared 14 percent to 298,800 yen in Tokyo, leading gains among finance companies in the region, after saying it will boost bond holdings to reduce risk. Toyota Motor Corp. added 1.9 percent to 3,570 yen. Nikon Corp., the second-largest camera maker for professionals, climbed 3.4 percent to 2,181 yen. Bank of Japan The Bank of Japan’s options include expanding a 10 trillion yen fund providing loans to banks, two central bank officials said last week on condition of anonymity. The country remains in a “mild deflationary phase,” the Cabinet Office said yesterday in its economic assessment for March. The Fed will announce its interest-rate decision today, with all 90 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecasting policy makers will keep the benchmark interest rate at a record- low range of zero to 0.25 percent. Finance ministers from the 16 countries using the euro worked out a strategy for emergency loans in case Greece’s plan for 4.8 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in tax increases and wage cuts fails to reduce its budget deficit. Direct loans to Greece would probably come through governments pooling funds, said a European official who asked not to be named. The meeting in Brussels yesterday didn’t resolve the size of future loans, which countries would offer them or the rates and durations. Negatives for Euro “There are worries that concrete aid measures for Greece may not be announced,” said Hideki Amikura, deputy general manager of foreign exchange at Nomura Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s largest brokerage. “It’s a negative for the euro against the dollar and the yen.” Crude oil traded below $80 a barrel in New York amid signs the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep output levels unchanged at a meeting tomorrow in Vienna, contributing to the high level of crude stockpiles. Oil declined 1.8 percent yesterday as the U.S. currency gained against the euro, curbing demand for commodities as an alternative investment. An Energy Department report tomorrow may show U.S. crude supplies rose for a seventh week, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. To contact the reporters on this story: Clyde Russell in Singapore at crussell7@bloomberg.net; Akiko Ikeda in Tokyo at iakiko@bloomberg.net.

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